(Showbox)

A Korean film about a pro-democracy uprising in the country exceeded 8 million in attendance Monday, dethroning "Confidential Assignment" as the most-viewed film of the year to date, its distributor said.

"A Taxi Driver" passed the threshold at 7 a.m., on its 13th day of run, Showbox said, citing real-time box-office data from the Korean Film Council.

It broke the record of "Confidential Assignment," a Korean comedy-action film that sold about 7.8 million tickets, as the most popular movie of the year to date.

The film topped the local weekend box office for the second weekend in a row, drawing 1.77 million views. Released on Aug. 2, the movie starring Song Kang-ho and German actor Thomas Kretschmann has topped the box office for the past 12 days.

The period drama directed by Jang Hoon tells the story of a Seoul taxi driver named Man-seop, who happens to take German reporter Jurgen Hinzpeter to Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, for a large offer of money and witnesses the horrors of the bloody military crackdown on the uprising.

On May 18, 1980, citizens of Gwangju rose up against military rule and general-turned-President Chun Doo-hwan. The revolt was brought to an end by the bloody government-led crackdown, which left hundreds of people dead or missing. (Yonhap)