PPP calls for urgent action after top tax exam passer admits AI cheating

The People Power Party called on education authorities Sunday to take swift action after the top scorer on the national tax accountant licensing exam admitted to cheating.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok wrote on social media that day that the top passer on the tax accountant exam had confessed to AI-assisted cheating. "They admitted to using electronic devices and generative AI," Jang wrote. "If they hadn't scored so unusually high, wouldn't it have just been buried?"

Jang went on to ask, "Could there be others who passed by cheating just enough not to stand out? Was cheating limited only to the tax accountant exam?" He said the situation had made it "difficult to trust the results of national licensing exams altogether."

Jang said that when the issue first surfaced, the Korea Industrial Human Resources Corp. had announced there were no irregularities. "They had failed to detect the cheating entirely," he said.

Jang added that the College Scholastic Ability Test was scheduled for Thursday. While education authorities said they would station personnel at every exam venue to spot AI-enabled glasses, he said it was "in effect impossible to visually identify all AI glasses" and that "proper countermeasures, such as radio-wave detection technology, should have been put in place long ago."

"The education authorities' lax response is fueling anxiety among test-takers and their parents," Jang said. "There must never be a case where the outcome of a once-in-a-lifetime exam is altered by AI. Authorities must present reliable and concrete countermeasures that test-takers and parents can trust."

Jang closed by saying he was "urging education authorities to prepare countermeasures without delay."

Chief Spokesperson Choe Bo-yun also issued a statement that day, saying the incident showed that "the current exam management system has failed to properly block cheating that exploits advanced technology." Choe said a "zero-tolerance policy without the means to catch cheaters or verified equipment is nothing more than an empty threat."

Choe urged the government to "mobilize every available measure to secure exam venues on the day of the CSAT, while also issuing detailed guidelines to ensure that honest test-takers are not intimidated and that venues do not descend into chaos." Choe also called on authorities to "review the response framework for advanced devices across all national exams and to accelerate the verification and on-site deployment of effective detection technology."

"What kind of top-three AI power cannot even ensure a fair exam?" Choe said. "AI leadership starts not with slogans but with trust."