[뉴스피처] “The money for the beer is spent here?” A Japanese company with fingers

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‘We do not want a military dictatorship.’

A banner that has recently appeared on the streets of Myanmar has this phrase written on it.

Myanmar, where the military coup took place on the 1st.

The reason for the coup is that serious misconduct occurred in the general election last November, but the government did not properly investigate it.

Myanmar already has a history of establishing a military government in a coup in 1962.

During the decades when the people of Myanmar struggled with the military dictatorship, Aung San Suu Kyi, a national adviser, has emerged as a symbol of the democratic movement.

Suu Kyi is the daughter of an independent hero who helped Myanmar escape from British colonial rule and became a symbol of hope for the people of Myanmar by continuing the nonviolent democratization movement against the military.

In particular, he was under house arrest by the military from 1989 to 2010, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and has been noted internationally as an icon of the peace struggle.

Afterwards, the Democratic Peoples Alliance (NLD) led by advisor Suu Kyi won the 2015 general election, and the following year, the Civilian Government was established in Myanmar.

Myanmar’s public sentiment raged when the news of the shame torture being detained again in this military coup.

Starting with Yangon, the largest city, news of protests by citizens who refused the military dictatorship were delivered day after day.

As protests shouting slogans with a high’three-finger salute’, a symbol of resistance, intensified day by day, a boycott of “don’t buy products from the military business” took place.

Myanmar’s military is known to be working in a variety of industries, from retail goods such as food and beverages and tobacco to telecommunications and finance.

However, as a boycott spread due to antipathy against the military coup, the Japanese beer company Kirin Holdings also sparked fire.

Kirin Brewery, in 2015, invested in two beer companies including Myanmar Brewery in partnership with Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL), a company affiliated with the Myanmar military.

However, in 2017, when the Myanmar military had killed a minority of Muslims, the Rohingya, there were suspicions that some foreign companies, such as Kirin Beer, supported it.

Human rights group Amnesty International argued that “during the time of the Rohingya massacre, donations from Kirin Beer were passed to the Supreme Commander of the Myanmar Army.”

Kirin Brewery defended, “Through its affiliate Myanmar Brewery, a total donation of US$30,000 was delivered to the Myanmar government at the time, but it was to help victims of the violence.”

However, Amnesty International presented evidence and condemned that “Japan has a responsibility to ensure that its companies do not contribute to human rights abuses.”

Through the raising of these issues, it has become widely known to the international community that MEHL has provided various business proceeds to the military. This started to get worse rapidly.

Recognizing that MEHL was in fact under the supervision of Min Aung Hlaing, it was suspected that it had maintained the partnership and helped the military to accumulate funds until the coup was launched.

Then Kirin Holdings made a statement on the 5th, saying, “Considering the current situation, we have no choice but to end the joint venture alliance with MEHL, which provides welfare fund management services for the Myanmar military.”

To this announcement, the Myanmar democratization movement’Justice for Myanmar’ welcomed “Kirin Brewery made a bold and timely decision” and urged other foreign companies, including Korea and India, to sever relations.

The crisis in Myanmar is immediately triggered by martial law being declared in some large cities. Amidst the international sanctions movement, a Japanese company that was suspicious of’financing funds to the military’ quickly’isolated’.

Reporter Lee Eun-jung Kim Ji-won Author Park So-jung

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