Police said Friday they have arrested a pair close to conservative critic Susumu Nishibe, who died in January of an apparent suicide at the age of 78, on the suspicion that they helped the former TV host kill himself.

The suspects are Tetsugaku Kubota, 45, an employee at a subsidiary of the Tokyo Metropolitan Television Broadcasting Corp. (Tokyo MX) who used to direct a TV program hosted by Nishibe, and Tadashi Aoyama, 54, Nishibe's long-time friend. Both men have confessed to the charges, police said.

"I wanted to be of help with respect to his view of life and death," Kubota was quoted by police as saying.