South Korean tax accountant exam top scorer turns himself in to police after cheating with generative AI

A candidate reported to have ranked first in this year's South Korean tax accountant exam admitted that he used a micro camera to photograph exam questions and send them to generative AI in the two rounds held in April and July, then checked the answers on a smartphone, and has turned himself in to police. He made the admission on a lawyer's YouTube channel, saying he also cheated the same way in the certified public accountant exam, and has submitted a self-report to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency; in the first round he got only 1 question wrong out of 160, scoring 397.5 points (out of 400). The presidential office said it is watching the situation very seriously, especially ahead of Thursday's nationwide university entrance exam, and will hold a countermeasures meeting chaired by the policy chief that afternoon; the Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to promptly suspend the validity of his certificate, and under the law cheaters can have their results canceled and be barred from taking the exam for 5 years, and may face criminal charges depending on the police investigation. This is the latest in a recent series of AI cheating incidents in South Korea; in October two university entrance exam candidates were caught cheating with AI glasses, and Ministry of Education statistics also show 4 such cases in primary and secondary schools this year.