Film on ex-President Roh set to top 10 mln viewers mark

A Korean film inspired by the early years of the late President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to surpass 10 million viewers by this weekend, becoming the first film to reach the milestone this year.

"The Attorney" had drawn 9.2 million moviegoers as of Sunday, according to box-office data compiled by the Korean Film Council. The movie has topped the local box office for a fourth week in a row, despite recently being released illegally online.

Starring actor Song Kang-ho, the star of director Bong Joon-ho's latest hit "Snowpiercer," the new film depicts the story of a small-time tax lawyer in the southern city of Busan who completely changes the path of his life by taking on a human rights case. The attorney is modeled after the lawyer-turned-president Roh.

In the so-called "Burim case," the administration of the then authoritarian President Chun Doo-hwan illegally detained and tortured a group of university students, school teachers and other salaried workers on rebellion charges in 1981 to suppress pro-democracy activists and secure the basis for his dictatorial regime.

"The Suspect," a homegrown action-thriller about a North Korean spy, remained a distant second for the third consecutive week, attracting an accumulated 3.7 million viewers. (Yonhap News)