Japanese beverage giant Kirin has said it will conduct a “further examination” of its Myanmar presence after its ties with the Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) threatened an unrelated deal in the United States. The affair could show that things are heating up for international investors who choose to do business with the United Nations-maligned military.

The controversy began last month as Kirin was finalizing a deal to buy employee-owned American brewer New Belgium. Two American-based organizations representing refugees from Myanmar penned an open letter urging New Belgium employees to reject the deal because of Kirin’s stake in Myanmar’s dominant beverage company, Myanmar Brewery, which it shares with the Tatmadaw-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. In August, the United Nations called for a boycott of all military linked businesses, claiming that dealing with the Tatmadaw directly financed ongoing human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims settled on the western border.

Kirin has not heeded the UN boycott recommendation. However, the New Belgium deal came just as Myanmar returned to the global media spotlight as State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi defended the country before the International Court of Justice against charges of genocide. Kirin’s partnership with the Tatmadaw proved to be an ungainly footnote to the otherwise successful deal.

“We are aware of the difficulties in operating our business in a frontier market and we are continuing to make efforts to deepen our understanding and improve our system,” the company said.