SEOUL, South Korea — The image on the cover of Kim Myung-ho’s self-published book neatly captures his attitude toward the South Korean judiciary. It shows Mr. Kim, a former mathematics professor, standing defiantly, a law book in one hand and a crossbow in the other.

His book’s title: “Judges, Who Do You Think You Are?”

Mr. Kim’s outrage has resonated with South Koreans, with a movie about his dispute with the South Korean judicial system selling more than 3.5 million tickets since it was released in January. And Mr. Kim’s crossbow is more than a prop.

He actually brandished one in a January 2007 confrontation with an appeals court judge who had rejected Mr. Kim’s claim that Sungkyunkwan University had wrongfully terminated him. At some point in the showdown, an arrow flew. Mr. Kim said no one was hit. But the judge, Park Hong-woo, said he was wounded, and Mr. Kim was sentenced to four years in prison.

Editorial writers and Internet bloggers have labeled Mr. Kim a “terrorist” whose “quixotic delusion” led him to shoot Judge Park. But some South Koreans have likened Mr. Kim to Robin Hood, a testimony to the depth of the antijudiciary sentiment in South Korea.