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The top scorer in Korea’s recent tax accountant qualification examination admitted Sunday that he used generative artificial intelligence (AI) and a camera to cheat, reversing his earlier denials after his unusually high marks drew public scrutiny. “I cheated on the tax accountant examination,” Han Won-seok said on the YouTube channel run by his lawyer Lee Don-ho. “I sincerely apologize for the harm my wrongdoing has caused so many people.” Han’s results attracted attention because he answered 159 of the 160 questions correctly in the first-stage tax accountant examination in April, scoring 397.5 out of 400. Three months later, he scored 663 out of 800 in the second-stage written examination and was named the overall top scorer. His exceptionally high scores had fueled online speculation about possible cheating. Experts, including licensed tax accountants and tax lawyers, argued that the near-perfect score in the first test was “close to impossible,” suggesting that he might have used AI smart glasses. It turned out Han’s cheating method was not AI glasses. He said he i

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Kim Min-seok faces a leadership crisis only about three months into the position, as factional infighting between his supporters and loyalists to the party's former leader is escalating, with the latter boycotting meetings and openly criticizing his leadership. The latest move adds to disputes that have dogged Kim’s leadership, ranging from a row over his claim of a “secret alliance” between a nonmainstream religious sect and the former leader, Jung Chung-rae, and Kim's investigation order for one of Jung's loyalists, to disagreements over pending issues including the chief justice’s impeachment and property tax reform. On Friday, Reps. Choi Min-hee, Han Min-soo and Lee Seong-yun, all Supreme Council members and considered loyalists to Jung, boycotted a meeting in protest against Kim’s order the previous day for the party's ethics committee to investigate Choi. They instead held a press conference to call for the party's reform, criticizing Kim's leadership. Kim and Jung competed in a bitterly contested party leadership race in A

An Uzbek national in Korea has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for sending funds to a terrorist group based in Syria, legal sources said Sunday. The Seoul Central District Court recently handed down the sentence to the defendant after finding the Uzbek national guilty of violating the anti-terrorism law. The court also ordered the defendant to pay 1.25 million won ($936) — the same amount the Uzbek national sent in six transfers to an account designated by a KTJ member between January 2024 and January 2025. Khatiba Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ), a UN-designated Islamic extremist group associated with al-Qaida, has been linked to the 2016 suicide bombing at the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan and the 2017 suicide bombing on the St. Petersburg subway in Russia. The Uzbek national entered Korea on a D-4-1 student visa to study at a university-affiliated language institute and was staying in the country as an international student when contacted by the KTJ member. According to the legal sources, the court said the defendant "provided funding to support a terrorist group knowing that

The squid catch around Ulleung Island has plummeted amid rising sea temperatures caused by climate change, highlighting how warming waters are reshaping Korea’s marine ecosystem and the coastal communities that depend on it. According to Ulleung County on Sunday, the local catch fell from 11,315 tons in 2000 to 1,852 tons in 2015 and 1,172 tons in 2020, before plunging to 141 tons in 2025. The 2025 catch amounted to just 1.2 percent of the 2000 figure. The decline has continued this year, with only 54 tons caught from January to September. Squid is the signature seafood of the island in North Gyeongsang Province and has long been a mainstay of its economy. The decline stems largely from rising sea temperatures, which have reshuffled the marine food chain and are pushing squid out of Korean waters. The National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) believes squid that would normally grow off Korea’s coast have moved north toward Russia and other areas as their main coastal and offshore habitat in the southern East Sea has warmed. The average sea surface temperature around the Korean Pe

Hong Kong’s police chief has dismissed concerns that geopolitical tensions could affect attendance at the coming Interpol general assembly to be held in the city, saying transnational cooperation on policing is “inevitable”. Speaking on a TV programme on Sunday, Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming responded to questions about whether American and European countries would send representatives to the meeting, to be held from November 30 to December 3 in Hong Kong. “Geopolitics is one thing,...

The charred body of an elderly woman was found in a flat in Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin after a blaze broke out on Sunday morning, with officers uncovering a large amount of clutter piled up all the way to the ceiling. The Fire Services Department received a report at 8.45am on Sunday of a No 1 alarm fire at a lower-floor residential flat at Lung Kwong House in Wong Tai Sin. Firefighters arrived a few minutes later and extinguished the fire within 26 minutes, at 9.16am. Some 300 people were...

China has upgraded its VT-4 series main battle tank with cutting-edge technologies aimed at the international market, newly surfaced photos show ahead of the country’s premier defence exhibition in Zhuhai. The appearance of the new tank, believed to be designated as VT-4B, indicates significant upgrades over the existing VT-4A in its armour protection, active protection, weapon station and electronic equipment. Some of the improvements show traits of technologies developed for China’s...

Hong Kong police have arrested a cabby for dangerous driving after his taxi allegedly hit two British nationals who were crossing the road in Wan Chai. Police said on Sunday that the incident happened at 1.39am, when the victims – a 65-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman – were crossing the road near Hay Wah Building in Wan Chai while the taxi was travelling west along Hennessy Road. The victims sustained head injuries and were admitted to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. The man was...

The Victoria Harbour Race on Sunday ended in chaos and disappointment for up to 800 swimmers, after organisers cancelled the final waves of amateur competitors and even pulled some from the water with the finish line in sight. With the 11.30am cut-off time fast approaching, the fourth batch of leisure swimmers, which had 700 spaces allocated to it, were left on dry land when organisers pulled the plug at 9.25am, some 20 minutes after the waves of the race’s slowest entrants were scheduled to...

The crash at Fassifern also injured an 11-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man and closed the Cunningham Highway in both directions.

Joe Root is dismissed by part-timer Cooper Connolly after skying a delivery to a sub fielder.

China’s bricks-and-mortar bookstores are increasingly counting on coffee, merchandise and cultural events rather than books to stay afloat – a survival strategy whose tensions were laid bare after a major chain asked a book buyer to vacate its cafe seating unless she bought a drink. The dispute at a Beijing branch of Sisyphe Bookstore, one of the country’s largest chains, went viral earlier this month, sparking an online debate over the struggles bookshops face in the digital age. The customer,...