The Chuncheon District Court is pictured. (Supreme Court) Two Uzbek students were each fined 5 million won ($3,400) for attempting to cheat on the Test of Proficiency in Korean by having one take the exam on behalf of the other, the Chuncheon District Court said Saturday.The court found the defendants guilty of obstructing performance of official duties by fraudulent means, for the proxy testing at the Korean test conducted on Nov. 16.According to the court, a 27-year-old Uzbek student met a 29-year-old student of the same nationality outside an elementary school in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Nov. 15, the day before the test. The younger student asked the older student to take the TOPIK exam on their behalf.The following day, the older student presented the younger student’s admission ticket to a proctor at a testing center in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, and attempted to take the exam but was caught.“The defendants’ conduct warrants serious criticism, as they conspired to have one of them take the exam as a proxy,” the court said in explaining the sentence.The court, however, said it took into account that both defendants admitted to the offense and that the proxy test-taking attempt was detected immediately. It also noted that the 27-year-old had no prior convictions for a similar offense, while the 29-year-old had no previous criminal record in South Korea.The ruling comes after South Korean police said Tuesday that they referred 113 Chinese nationals to the prosecution for using proxy test-takers, forged identification documents and concealed electronic devices to obtain high scores on the TOPIK exam.As cases of misconduct by TOPIK test takers are uncovered, police and education authorities have called for stronger identity verification measures.