Photo/Illutration Rights and Brands Japan Co. apologizes for causing displeasure among Moomin fans concerning some licensed products, without naming DHC Corp. (From the official Moomin website)

DHC Corp. has been asked to stop producing items tied to the Moomin characters created by Finnish author Tove Jansson in response to racial slurs made by the chairman of the leading Japanese beauty and health products retailer.

Rights and Brands Japan Co., which manages the merchandising rights of Moomin characters, said it took the step after criticism erupted online over DHC's marketing of Moomin-themed products. The company said doing so conflicted with the importance of diversity and other values represented by the characters.

Tokyo-based DHC began selling lip creams and hand creams featuring Moomin and Little My on Aug. 23.

When Moomin’s official website and social media announced the sale of the products, they were flooded with posts critical of the collaboration with DHC, which has been under heavy fire for comments its chairman, Yoshiaki Yoshida, made slandering ethnic Koreans.

The comments, posted on his company’s official website in November and April, drew an angry response from a number of DHC's business partners.

Rights and Brands Japan said it had given DHC the rights to sell merchandise using Moomin characters in September.

Kumiko Ito, president of Rights and Brands Japan, told The Asahi Shimbun that neither Moomin Characters Ltd. in Finland or her company tolerate any form of discrimination.

But she conceded that her company “was not fully aware” of the implications of concluding a business contract with DHC.

“We are sorry about upsetting people,” she said.

In a notice dated Aug. 24, the company said it would “conduct a rigorous screening of prospective business partners over human rights issues when it is considering a license agreement.”

The notice stated that, "Even if an agreement was reached without our knowledge, after ascertaining the situation we will make efforts promptly not to renew the contract or ask the licensee to end the manufacture of its products."

The company deleted a listing for DHC’s products from the official Moomin website and Twitter account and will not renew the contract with the retailer.

A DHC public relations official declined to comment on the matter.

The Moomin troll characters in Jansson's books are popular around the world, including Japan. Many products related to the Moomins have been sold in Japan under license agreements.

Critics of DHC have not been limited to the private sector.

Some local governments in the spring pulled out of their partnership agreements with the company, which had agreed to provide supplements to them in the event of a natural disaster, after Yoshida’s comments raised the ire of the public.

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