South Korean President Moon Jae-in invested personal funds in a special fund that was recently created to develop Korea’s own production of a number of components and materials previously imported from Japan, RG reported.

Journalists have already called the created structure a “patriotic fund”, since it appeared as a reaction of Seoul to the economic, commercial and political conflicts between Korea and Japan.

According to local media, the other day, Moon Jae-in visited the headquarters of the state NongHyup Bank, filled out applications and invested personal funds in a fund jointly managed by the Korean NH Financial Group and the French Credit Agricole group.

Obviously, Moon was counting on a significant PR effect, and these hopes came true. In the first two days after a visit to Moon, which was widely covered in the media, the volume of investment in the fund by ordinary Koreans increased 13 and 10 times.

Over 40 billion won (about $ 33 million) has already been accumulated in the 'patriotic fund’, of which about 30 billion have been invested by legal entities and over 10 billion by private investors. The exact amount that Moon Jae-in decided to invest in the fund is not reported.

As explained by NongHyup Bank, the proceeds will be invested in the development of production of 60 promising Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and LG Chem. These firms are entrusted with the task of quickly creating the production of those components and materials for the supply of which Japan introduced restrictions on supplies to South Korea.