Bunroku Yoshino, a former senior official in the Foreign Ministry who became the first among current and former government officials to testify in court about the existence of a secret pact between Japan and the United States over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa, died of pneumonia Sunday at his home in Yokohama, his family said. He was 96.

A native of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Yoshino joined the Foreign Ministry while attending Tokyo Imperial University.

After various diplomatic posts, such as minister at the embassy in Washington, he served as director general of the Foreign Ministry's American Bureau between January 1971 and June 1972.

As director general, Yoshino took charge of negotiations with the United States over the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty.

In February 2006, Yoshino, as a former ministry official, admitted publicly that in a secret pact with the United States, Japan had shouldered the $4 million cost of restoring land in Okinawa to its original state after it had been used for military purposes.

In December 2009, he testified during a civil case that he had initialed a diplomatic document concerning the Okinawa reversion, admitting to the existence of the secret bilateral agreement.

Yoshino also served as deputy foreign minister and ambassador to the former West Germany. After retiring from the diplomatic service, he served as chairman of the Institute for International Economic Studies in Tokyo.