Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s appeal to halve campaign costs was met with less than enthusiasm from his liberal ally and was derided by conservative adversaries as naive.

The man without a party has called for the costs of presidential campaigns to be cut by up to 50 percent. But it is being met with skepticism from both main parties.

Ahn pledged on Sunday to keep the price tag of his presidential campaign at half the maximum allowed by law as part of his political reform programs.

“New politics should begin at the campaign phase. The first step in a new campaign is sparing tax payers’ money and managing a campaign that does not run on money.”

Campaign laws currently limit the amount that a presidential campaign can spend at 56 billion won ($51 million), which can later be reimbursed with taxpayers’ money. Ahn has pledged to keep total campaign costs below 28 billion won.

But the conservative Saenuri Party expressed cynicism at the progressive candidate’s plan to manage a frugal campaign, however agreeing in principal on the need to cut campaign costs.

“Ahn has no right to call for such reforms,” said Ahn Hyung-hwan, a spokesman for the Saenuri Party, in a briefing the following day. “There is still half a chance that Ahn will not become the presidential candidate,” he added, referring to the expected merger between Ahn and Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party.

The liberal DUP has also been cautious in its response though it supports his cause to free politics from the undue influence of rich donors.

“There are practical difficulties involved in drastically reducing campaign costs (as proposed by Ahn),” Moon said in a meeting with campaign officials at the party headquarters.

The DUP nominee noted that at least 60 percent of the campaign costs are spent on advertising and publicity campaigns, which are designed to “satisfy the people’s right to know” the candidate’s campaign pledges and policy initiatives.

The former presidential chief of staff added that holding TV debates among the candidates could help reduce advertisement costs.

Ahn’s campaign began its public fundraising campaign Tuesday. Moon’s campaign said it delayed the opening of its second public campaign fund, which was scheduled for later this week, to allow Ahn’s fund to gain momentum in its fundraising efforts.

A public campaign fund for Moon that was opened last month accumulated more than 20 billion won.

By Samuel Songhoon Lee (songhoon@heraldcorp.com)