Ex-Japan Prime Minister Uno Dies

TOKYO (AP) _ Former Prime Minister Sosuke Uno, whose 69-day administration was cut short over a geisha scandal, died today at age 75.

Uno died of lung cancer at a hospital in Moriyama, Shiga prefecture, the hospital reported. The city is 230 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Uno became prime minister in 1989 after a bribery scandal forced his predecessor, Noboru Takeshita, to resign. Uno stepped down two months later after his popularity plunged amid reports he paid a geisha to be his mistress. His administration was among the shortest in Japanese history.

First elected to Japan’s lower house of Parliament in 1960, Uno later served as Defense Agency director general, trade minister and foreign minister. He retired from politics in 1996.

There was no immediate word on survivors or funeral plans.