President Moon Jae-in has kept his election pledge to make regular visits to theaters or concert halls by watching a popular movie about a brutal military crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in 1980 against South Korea's military dictatorship.
Moon watched "A Taxi Driver" Sunday in a Seoul theater, the president's office said. The movie is based on the true story of a Korean taxi driver and Jurgen Hinzpeter, a German journalist who covered the bloody 1980 uprising that erupted in the southern city of Gwangju in protest at a martial law.
At that time, citizens in Gwangju took up arms to stop a military attack that killed hundreds of people. The uprising later was officially recognized in school textbooks as a pro-democracy movement.
On Sunday, Moon visited the theater with Edeltraut Brahmstaedt, the German reporter's wife, her family, and actor Song Kang-ho who starred in the movie. The journalist died in May last year and part of his body has been enshrined in a special cemetery in Gwangju.
Moon and Brahmstaedt "shed tears" after watching the movie, the president's office said in a statement. "A Taxi Driver" has become this year's most-viewed film with eight million in attendance as of Monday on its 13th day of run, according to real-time box-office data.
Moon has promised to improve communication with the public and mingle with citizens in theaters and concert halls regularly, envisaging his image of loving popular arts and culture.