Photo/Illutration A list of municipalities DHC Corp. signed comprehensive partnership agreements with (Captured from the official online shopping website of DHC Corp.)

DHC Corp. deleted racist comments by its chairman against ethnic Koreans in Japan from the company’s official website on the evening of May 31.

The move comes after some municipalities informed DHC that they intended to terminate their partnership agreements with the Tokyo-based retailer of popular beauty and health products over the discriminatory posts.

DHC Chairman Yoshiaki Yoshida used a racial slur to describe ethnic Korean residents in Japan in a post issued under his title in November last year on the company’s official online shopping website. Similar discriminatory messages by the chairman were also posted in April and May.

Some of DHC’s business partners also criticized the chairman’s comments as “inappropriate” and demanded that the company clarify its stance on the matter.

DHC, when contacted by The Asahi Shimbun, said it would refrain from commenting on the removal of the posts.

“The firm stance taken by municipalities and businesses that they do not tolerate racial discrimination may have changed DHC’s attitude toward the matter,” said Moon Kong-hwi, director-general of the Multi-Ethnic Human Rights’ Education Center for Pro-existence, an Osaka-based nonprofit group supporting foreign residents in Japan. “But the issue won’t be resolved until the company apologizes and takes measures to prevent a recurrence.”

Of DHC's 32 business partners and their parent companies, seven said they took actions over the racist posts, according to surveys by the NPO and others.

Heiwado, a supermarket chain based in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, said it urged the company to release an official view on the chairman’s “inappropriate” comments.

Aeon Co., a major Japanese retailing group, said it sent DHC a document demanding an explanation. Aeon also said it stated in the document that approving the discriminatory messages would run counter to the group’s basic policy on human rights.

The Asahi Shimbun surveyed 21 cities and towns that signed comprehensive partnership agreements with DHC to receive supplements from the company in the event of a natural disaster.

Officials in Nankoku, Kochi Prefecture, one of the municipalities, said they told the company in April that the city wanted to terminate its partnership agreement, citing the “inappropriate” comments by the DHC chairman. Officials in Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, and Sukumo, Kochi Prefecture, also expressed their intention to cancel or freeze their agreements.

(This article was written by Shohei Sasagawa and Hajimu Takeda.)

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