Japanese beauty firm DHC is quitting South Korea after 20 years, after a spate of racially-motivated boycotts left it struggling in the country.

DHC entered South Korea in 2002, but has suffered in the country due to tensions between its leadership and native Koreans.

The business said it “regrettably decided to end its operations in South Korea”, according to the Korean Herald, in a statement on its website.

Last week the business was fined 5.5 million yen in damages to Zainichi Korean human rights activist Shin sug-ok for defamation, after the business claimed she orchestrated violent acts against the US military in Okinawa with no evidence.

And last year, DHC chairman Yoshiaki Yoshida used a racial slur in a column in which he criticized rival company Suntory for casting “too many” Korean-Japanese models.

Yoshida also allegedly complained that a TV commercial DHC created, which featured the names of Korean celebrities that “deserve to be despised for the benefit of Japan”, were rejected by Japanese media outlets.