Less bluster, but no compromise seen as South Korean, Japan ministers meet in China

FILE PHOTO: South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attends the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ East Asia Summit Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand August 2, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korea and Japan have toned down the rhetoric but show little sign of compromise in a bitter political and economic dispute as their foreign ministers prepare to meet in China this week.

Relations between the two U.S. allies are at their worst in years, with a trade row rooted in a decades-old dispute over compensation for Koreans forced to work during Japan's wartime occupation of South Korea.