South Korea to Tighten TOPIK Security After Leak and Cheating Reports

Overview

• Education authorities said they will roll out tougher safeguards starting with the July Test of Proficiency in Korean, including cutting similarities between regional papers and reviewing whether all sites can test on the same day.
• The Korea Herald documented Chinese brokers on Xiaohongshu selling leaked questions and paid help for up to about $5,100, offering proxy test-taking, advance answer keys with a claimed 90% hit rate, and real-time coaching through a tiny earpiece.
• Police and the National Institute for International Education confirmed an in‑test cheating case in which a student was caught with a sheet of answers, and officials said they plan to file a complaint against the examinee.
• Reporters described a scheme that taps earlier sittings in Europe, Australia, Africa and the United States, where test‑takers memorize questions and pass them to brokers who resell them to candidates in later time zones.
• NIIED said it is aware of social‑media malpractice and is cooperating with police, though tracing anonymous sellers on foreign platforms is difficult for investigators and risks undercutting scores used for university admissions and graduation.