Na Kyung-won uses tax exam cheating scandal to criticize President Lee

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won on Sunday criticized President Lee Jae Myung, citing the case of the top scorer on this year's tax accountant exam who admitted to using AI to cheat and turned himself in to police.

In a Facebook post that day, Na referenced the incident and said "the nation's morality has hit rock bottom." Na added that young people are asking, "Isn't the president someone with a drunk driving record and four criminal convictions? If you hold power, can't you erase the crimes you've committed?" — remarks Na called "deeply lamentable."

"When those at the top treat law and principle lightly, cheating becomes a matter of luck for those below," Na said, urging that "all fraud and illegal conduct that mocks honest effort and undermines fair competition must be met with firm and decisive punishment."

Na also called on the government to treat the incident as a painful lesson and take immediate action to ensure such crimes never gain a foothold again in national exams, which Na said are steeped in the sweat of young people.

Na then took direct aim at President Lee, writing: "Crimes committed will inevitably come to light someday and cannot be fully concealed or erased by any means. Our society must prove this simple truth once again. There are no exceptions — not in the exam hall, and not in the seat of power."

On the AI-assisted cheating itself, Na said that despite four proctors being stationed at the exam and an abnormally high score being recorded, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which administers the exam, failed to detect any wrongdoing. Na called for an urgent and thorough overhaul of the agency's exam management system, which Na described as full of holes.

Na also noted that the College Scholastic Ability Test is just around the corner, scheduled for Thursday, and urged the government to put thorough countermeasures in place to prevent cheating using advanced devices at the exam.

"Relying solely on proctors' visual checks without deploying radio-frequency detectors has clear limitations," Na added, calling strongly for effective measures to prevent a recurrence.

Meanwhile, Han, the top scorer on this year's 63rd tax accountant exam who had drawn cheating allegations after posting an unusually high score, appeared on an attorney's YouTube channel Sunday, admitted to the cheating and said Han had turned himself in to police.