IT之家 October 29 news: South Korea plans to impose a penalty of up to three years of exam bans on candidates who cheat using AI smart glasses in the national college entrance examination. Starting from this year’s exam, each test site will assign dedicated personnel specifically to identify smart glasses, and the government is also considering deploying signal detection equipment next year. Previously, cases of cheating using smart glasses occurred successively in exams in multiple places in South Korea, and the South Korean government has therefore increased penalties and strengthened exam room supervision.
IT之家 notes that the South Korean Ministry of Education announced this response plan on local time October 29, with the core goal of increasing the punishment for cheating while reducing the burden on invigilators to identify and determine violations.
The South Korean Ministry of Education first plans to amend the current Higher Education Act to extend the exam ban period for cheating candidates from the current one year to three years. Under existing regulations, if a candidate wears or uses smart glasses, the score is directly invalidated, and the candidate may not take the exam the following year. If a candidate refuses to allow invigilators to inspect the glasses, after verification they will also receive the same penalty. Even if smart glasses are merely brought into the test site and not actually used, the exam score will likewise be deemed invalid.
The relevant penalty standards will also be further tightened. The South Korean Ministry of Education determines that cheating using smart glasses is a deliberate, premeditated act of obstructing a national examination, and plans to pursue criminal liability, filing complaints or requesting investigations on charges such as obstruction of official duties and obstruction of business. In 2005, there was a case in which a candidate participated in collective cheating by exchanging answers via mobile phones and was ultimately sentenced to eight months in prison with a two-year suspended sentence. The Ministry of Education also recommends that universities, starting this year, implement the same severe penalty standards in their own independent admissions exams.
The inspection process at test sites will also be adjusted. Starting from this year’s exam, each test site will have one staff member specifically responsible for identifying smart glasses. After invigilators discover suspicious glasses, this dedicated person will first make a determination; if necessary, it will then be reviewed by the local education office, the Ministry of Education, and the emergency command center of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. This staff member will also patrol the examination room and assist invigilators as needed.
Protection measures for invigilators will also be upgraded. This year all invigilators will be uniformly insured with liability insurance, with broader coverage and longer claim settlement times; insurance payouts will cover not only compensation for losses but also lawyer fees and litigation costs. Starting from the 2028 academic year, the South Korean Ministry of Education also plans to adjust invigilation remuneration to a more reasonable level.
The South Korean Ministry of Education is also advancing technical prevention and control measures. Professional institutions are developing signal detection equipment suitable for examination rooms, and the Ministry of Education will first complete equipment evaluation before deciding whether to deploy it at test sites next year.
An official from the South Korean Ministry of Education said: “We will continue to introduce relevant measures to create a fair and stable examination environment for candidates while reducing the workload of invigilators.”