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President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a highly-anticipated, albeit brief encounter in Bangkok on Sunday as regional leaders gathered in the Thai capital for ASEAN summit meetings.It was the leaders' first face-to-face in months, during which the two sides have clashed over trade and historical issues, sending their relations to a low not seen in years.Our Park Hee-jun files this report from Bangkok. A surprise moment ahead of the ASEAN summit meetings in Bangkok.President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe exchanging greetings and shaking hands at Sunday's gala dinner.The pleasantries happening as they stood in the same row during a photo session.After Chile's decision to cancel its hosting of the APEC summit,... the annual ASEAN summit might be Moon and Abe's last opportunity this year to break the ice on the multilateral stage.It was their first face-to-face in more than four months since their brief handshake at the G20 Summit in Osaka.President Moon's letter that was hand delivered to Abe by South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon during his recent visit to Tokyo,... and Abe's message of condolence to Moon over his mother's passing last week are seen to have nudged the atmosphere in a more positive direction.Watchers say it's premature to call it a breakthrough,... but it could set a new direction for their bilateral relations, which have been at a low not seen in years due to historical and trade disputes.Although the Blue House says there's no one-on-one planned during this trip, the leaders will inevitably run into each other as they attend the various ASEAN meetings in Bangkok.On Monday, President Moon will participate in the ASEAN Plus Three summit with the ten ASEAN members and Japan and China.His key message will revolve around the upcoming special summits with ASEAN and Mekong countries in Busan at the end of November."Ever since taking office, President Moon has been emphasizing the importance of strengthening ties with Southeast Asian nations. He's kept true to his word, being the first South Korean leader to visit all ten ASEAN countries. With the Korea-ASEAN special summit and the Korea-Mekong summit just three weeks away, his main mission will be to gather support for the biggest international event in his presidency.""Seeing how we're here in Thailand at the start of the month and finishing the line in Busan later this month, we can say November is the month of Korea-ASEAN ties."President Moon will also explain his administration's efforts to establish peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula during the East Asia Summit, also attended by the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.He'll wrap up his trip to Thailand with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks.Involving ASEAN, South Korea, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and India,... RCEP covers half the world population, one third of global GDP and 30 percent of world trade making it the world's larg