The top scorer on South Korea’s national tax accountant exam confessed on Sunday that he cheated using generative AI — photographing questions with a miniature camera, sending them to an AI tool and reading the answers on a smartphone. Seoul police have opened a formal investigation, four days before the country’s high-stakes college entrance exam.
Seoul, November 15, 2026
What happened
Han Won-seok, who finished first in this year’s 63rd tax accountant examination, admitted the cheating in a video posted on the YouTube channel of his lawyer, Lee Don-ho. “I cheated using electronic devices and generative AI. My passing the exam with the top score was not the result of fair effort,” he said, apologising on camera while wearing a face mask.
Han said he has submitted a written confession to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Police said they received the confession through his attorney on Sunday morning, assigned the case to the Metropolitan Investigation Unit and promised a swift and rigorous investigation.
The details
The confession follows months of speculation. In the exam’s first stage in April, Han answered 159 of 160 questions correctly, scoring 397.5 out of 400, and he scored 663 out of 800 in the second stage in July. He had previously denied accusations that he used AI-equipped smart glasses.
Han now says the method was a miniature camera, not glasses: photograph the questions, transmit them to an AI tool and check the answers on a smartphone. He admitted using the same method in both rounds of the tax exam and in the first round of the certified public accountant exam. He declined to describe the process in more detail, saying he did not want others to copy it, and he has not named the AI tool involved.
The exam’s safeguards did not catch him. The Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which administers the test, had earlier said it found no concrete evidence of wrongdoing, and the proctors who supervised Han reported nothing suspicious.
Why it matters
This is the clearest documented case yet of generative AI defeating a national professional exam’s security in real time — not by being smuggled in as a study aid, but as a live answer feed during the test itself. The timing raises the stakes: South Korea’s annual college entrance exam takes place this Thursday, November 19, an event that largely dictates students’ university places and career paths. The prime minister acknowledged public concerns over AI-assisted cheating on Friday, and the government says it will oversee the college exam closely to keep it fair. For exam bodies everywhere, the lesson is uncomfortable: banning devices on paper is not the same as detecting them in the room.
Frequently asked questions
How did Han Won-seok cheat on the tax exam?
By his own account, he photographed exam questions with a miniature camera, sent them to a generative AI tool and checked the answers on a smartphone during the test.
What happens next in the investigation?
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has opened a formal investigation after receiving Han’s written confession on Sunday and has assigned the case to its Metropolitan Investigation Unit.
Did the exam organisers suspect anything?
Han’s near-perfect scores drew months of speculation, but the Human Resources Development Service of Korea said it had found no concrete evidence of wrongdoing, and his proctors reported nothing suspicious.
Sources: Reuters; Seoul Economic Daily; The Korea Times