TOKYO: Yukio Okamoto, a diplomatic consultant to various Japanese cabinets and prime ministers and a Middle East expert died after being infected with the new coronavirus, Japanese local media reported. He was 74 years old.

A Foreign Ministry official told NHK that Okamoto was infected with the new coronavirus and died on April 24.

Yukio Okamoto became a foreign affairs expert and critic after serving as director of the First North American Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then served as the Prime Minister's Assistant to the Okinawa issue in the then Hashimoto Cabinet.

Under the Hashimoto administration, Okamoto was in charge of issues related to Okinawa, mediating talks between the central government and the Okinawa prefectural government over such issues as the relocation plan for US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and promotion of the local economy.

After that, he was appointed as an assistant minister to the Prime Minister in the Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet, and was advising on the government's support measures for reconstruction after the end of the Iraq war.

After retiring as assistant Prime Minister, he was active as a diplomatic critic for the Japanese media.

Okamoto also served as a member of a private advisory panel to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to craft the premier's statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, in 2015.

Okamoto, a native of Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, joined the Foreign Ministry in 1968.

He also appeared on TV programs as a diplomacy commentator.