The truth committee under the Ministry of Justice confirmed Thursday the prosecution covered up the police torture of two pro-democracy activists in the 1980s, one of whom died in the process.

Park Jong-chul, a Seoul National University student, died during police interrogation in early 1987. Police and prosecutors at that time described his death as accidental. But the autopsy doctor's whistle-blowing and media reporting revealed that he was killed by water torture.

The revelation triggered a nationwide protest against the authoritarian Chun Doo-hwan government in June 1987. Chun subsequently bowed to public pressure and accepted the restoration of a direct presidential election.