The confession and the method of the fraud
The candidate who had obtained the highest score in South Korea’s national exam for aspiring tax accountants admitted to using generative artificial intelligence to cheat. The Guardian reports it, specifying that on Sunday the man, identified by the surname Han, confessed through his lawyer during an interview on lawyer Lee Don-ho’s YouTube channel.
According to the account provided by the candidate himself, during the tests he photographed the questions with a microcamera, sent them to an AI tool and checked the answers on a smartphone. Han had ranked first in both rounds of the qualification test, held in April and July. In the first round he had scored 397.5 points out of 400, with only one mistake out of 160 questions, a result that had fueled suspicions and accusations of fraud, initially denied by the candidate.
Han said he had submitted a written confession to the Seoul police. The metropolitan agency confirmed to the Guardian that it had received the document through the lawyer for the person involved and had assigned the case to investigators.
A national exam under pressure
The case comes in the days before the annual university admission exam, scheduled for Thursday, a high-pressure test for which many South Korean students prepare for much of their lives. The newspaper stresses that in South Korea standardized tests have a decisive impact on social mobility and career paths, an element that contributes to the relevance of the case.
According to a senior official at the presidential office, the presidency considers the matter very serious and, ahead of Thursday’s test, is working on countermeasures. The same official added that the chief of staff for policies had reportedly convened an emergency meeting on Sunday afternoon. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook had already acknowledged public concerns on Friday about AI-assisted fraud, assuring that the government would prepare measures well in advance and would monitor the process until the end to ensure that the exam takes place fairly and stably.
What is established and what remains to be clarified
The new and verified fact is the candidate’s confession, in which he admitted to using electronic devices and generative AI and acknowledged that his first place was not obtained through fair effort. The launch of the Seoul police investigation is also confirmed. The government’s statements indicate a willingness to strengthen controls, but the material does not specify which concrete measures will be adopted for the university admission exam.
Individual responsibilities and any judicial consequences for Han also remain to be clarified, along with the number of other people potentially involved and how the devices would have been brought into the classrooms. On these points, the Guardian report provides no further elements. The case, reported by the outlet, should be read as an episode stated by the parties involved and subject to investigation, not as a definitive reconstruction of the facts.
