Who is the murderer from the director’s point of view?

This was my second time watching ‘Memories of Murderer’ and I got to see the details that I missed when I was watching it for the first time. Personally, I dislike re-watching/ reading films or books because I know what is going to happen. By taking course I learned to watch same films several times. As I re-watched each film I found new details that I missed before.

When I began to watch this film for the second time, I wanted to find the hidden evidences and messages from the director.  As Jin Hee Choi stated, “[Director] Bong’s decision to work on an unsolved mystery provides him with room to experiment” (Choi 148).  I believe that the director had power to enforce his opinion on the “murderer” because the actual crime that the film is based on was never solved in real life. It was clearly shown to the audience that the director focused on the investigating process rather than the crime itself.  The audience do not have much information of the murderer other than the description given by one victim, “delicate just like a woman’s hand” and that he can climb up the trees. The final crime scene starts with the panning shot showing the killer with his back to the camera up on the tree (Choi 150). This is when the killer hesitates to choose between the middle school girl and Kwak Sul Yeong.   Two detectives, Kang and Jo spend years trying to find the murderer but fails.  At the end of the film, the killer is left unspecified.

I read the review from the link that Seohee posted, but I have a different perspective.

I believe that the director thinks Park Hyun Kyu is the real murderer because of the one photo that was found in Park’s room. The two detectives visit Park’s room after figuring out the address from the post card that Park sent to the radio station. As they enter Park’s room, detective Kang opens up the old photo album that was in the room. When detective opens the photo album, the first picture that the audience sees is the man sitting high up on tree. The face is not revealed to the audience because of the darkness; however, since this photo was in Park Hyun Kyu’s album, I assume that he is the one in the photo. 

It was super interesting to see the hidden messages and evidences that Director Bong threw in. But one question still remains. Why did the director focus on the investigation rather than the crime itself? Wouldn't it be easier to focus on the crime?