India, Nov. 16 -- SEOUL - He sat the exam wearing a mask. He posted his confession wearing one too. The marks attained by the top scorer on South Korea's national exam for aspiring tax accountants this year seemed too good to be true, and on Sunday sceptics were proven right when he confessed to using generative AI to cheat.

"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, identifying himself by the surname Han, as he apologised on the YouTube channel 'Attorney Lee Don-ho'.

Han Won-seok, 34, scored 159 of 160 on the first-stage exam run by HRD Korea, then topped the second stage with 663 of 800.

Appearing in a mask, he gave his real name and said:...