South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to suspend the certificate of the tax accountant exam top scorer who cheated with AI

This year's top scorer in the Korean tax accountant exam, Han Won-seok, admitted on his lawyer's YouTube channel on November 15 that he cheated, saying he used an ultra-micro camera to photograph exam questions and send them to AI in both the first and second rounds, then checked the answers on a smartphone, and has submitted a voluntary statement to police. South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance said it plans to promptly suspend the validity of the certificate issued to him through the tax accountant qualification review committee under the National Tax Service; cheating penalties are usually imposed after an investigation confirms the facts, but because the person concerned has admitted it, officials are expected to act promptly. In the first round Han Won-seok got only 1 question wrong out of 160, scoring 397.5 points (out of 400), and three months later in the second round scored 663 points (out of 800), ranking first in both rounds and setting the highest score in the exam's history. Previously, practicing tax accountants and candidates had suspected he used AI smart glasses to cheat, saying such a score was unprecedented and physically impossible given the exam's difficulty. Police have transferred the case to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's major crime investigation unit.