Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto died of illness on Saturday afternoon in a Tokyo hospital. He was 68.

Hashimoto died at 2 p.m. Saturday at the International Medical Center of Japan, from multiple organ failure and septic shock, Gaku Hashimoto, Hashimoto's second son was quoted by Kyodo News as saying.

Hashimoto had been in critical condition since early June when he was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and received surgery to remove a large part of his intestine.

Hashimoto, who was prime minister from 1996 to 1998, retired from politics last September, citing poor health. Hashimoto declined to run for parliament in September elections in which his longtime rival, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, led the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a record landslide.

The out-spoken politician led what was then the largest faction of the ruling LDP until July 2004, when he resigned from the post over a political scandal.

Hashimoto started his political career in 1963 as a young member of parliament. During his term as trade minister, he faced off against then-U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor in a bitter feud over the auto trade.

He took the post of premier from January 1996 as Japan struggled to recover from the collapse of its economy. He stepped down after a crushing defeat in July 1998 elections.

Hashimoto worked to improve diplomatic ties between Japan and China. As one of the leaders of seven Japan-China friendship organizations, he went on a goodwill visit to China and met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in March.

Source: Xinhua