Yohei Kono, Japanese dovish politician and former speaker of the House of Representatives, has criticized the security and foreign policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration, saying that Abe's long stint in office was "a misfortune for the Japanese people."

In an exclusive interview that took place in late July but was published on Tuesday on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the end of World War II by the local Kanagawa Shimbun, 80-year-old Kono said that he was born during wartime and knew well about the horrors of war.

He said the problems in the world should be solved through diplomacy and economic means such as the Official Development Assistance (ODA) instead of wars, saying politics should serve to prevent wars from happening.

Noting that the United States was a "warlike" country, Kono expressed concerns for Japan's one-sided security policy of following the lead of the United States, especially the government's decision to lift the ban on the so-called collective self-defense and its attempts to revise the pacifist Constitution.

He called on the Japanese government to attach more importance to its relationship with its Asian neighbors such as China and South Korea, stressing that it has been the long-held wish of the Japanese people.

Kono said that the Abe administration had made empty promises in election campaigns. After taking office, Abe has shown little regard for the people's feelings and wishes and his long stint in office "is a misfortune to the Japanese people."

Kono was a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He was most well-known for an official statement he made as chief cabinet secretary in 1993 in which he admitted the then Japanese government and military's involvement in forcibly recruiting "comfort women" during World War II and offered an apology to victims of "comfort women" system.

Kono is also father of Taro Kono who took office earlier this month as Japan's new foreign minister.