North Korea made no remarks at Friday's Asia-Pacific security meeting in Bangkok as the country's ambassador to Thailand attended in place of its foreign minister, in a rare move following Pyongyang's third weapons test in just over a week.

North Korea "chose to be silent," at the gathering, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, chairman of the meeting, said at a press conference after it wrapped up, indicating that Pyongyang opted to just listen.

The 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum -- which includes the United States, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea and other major nations -- is known as one of the very few multilateral events attended by North Korea's foreign minister almost every year.

But North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho did not participate in this year's regional security meeting despite Washington's desire to resume talks with Pyongyang to achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

It was the first time in 10 years for North Korea not to dispatch its foreign minister to the ASEAN gathering. Ri's absence also deprived U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of a chance to meet with his counterpart.

As North Korea has been jockeying for leverage ahead of an envisioned resumption of negotiations with the United States, its ambassador is believed to have shied away from making comments as instructed in the home country.

At last year's edition of the forum, which was held around two months after the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, Ri said, "Advancing unilateral demands will further deepen mistrust, instead of reviving trust," criticizing the U.S. stance on denuclearization.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at their June 30 meeting in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjeom that the two nations would restart stalled nuclear talks within weeks, but they have yet to take place.

(North Korean Ambassador to Thailand Kim Je Bong)

While urging the United States to ease economic sanctions and suspend a joint military drill with South Korea scheduled for later this month, Pyongyang has continued provocations including the launches of what appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles.

Instead of Ri, North Korean Ambassador to Thailand Kim Je Bong took part in the gathering. On Friday, North Korea again fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast, following similar launches on July 25 and 31, Seoul said.

During the forum, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono voiced hope that U.S.-North Korea talks will lead to concrete actions toward complete denuclearization, calling for the full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban activities using ballistic missile technology, a government official said.

Kono was also quoted by the Japanese official as saying Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is still willing to meet with Kim Jong Un "without conditions."

As for the situation surrounding the South China Sea, strains between China and some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been rekindled over the waters, on which they have overlapping claims.

China test-fired ballistic missiles in the sea earlier this year. In June, a Chinese fishing vessel collided with a Philippine fishing boat, and in July a Chinese oil exploration ship entered Vietnam's exclusive economic zone.

With China claiming sovereignty over almost the entire sea, it has rapidly built artificial islands with military infrastructure in the waters, home to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

At ASEAN foreign ministerial talks earlier this week, some countries expressed concern about intensifying tensions in the sea, in a veiled criticism of China.

U.S. warships, meanwhile, have carried out "freedom of navigation" operations in the sea, which are meant to test Chinese claims and assert the U.S. position that the contested features lay in international waters.

The United States and China "continued exchanges war of words" at Friday's meeting, with Washington again lambasting Beijing's military buildup in the South China Sea for threatening security in the region, an ASEAN source said.

China reacted by saying what the United States has down around the world is "harmful" to peace and stability in the region, the source added.

Among other issues on the agenda at the gathering was the latest escalation in strains between Tokyo and Seoul over export control measures in the wake of a string of South Korean court rulings ordering compensation for wartime forced labor last year.

Don said the Japan-South Korea rift was "highly visible" at the forum, asking the two countries to "build up trust" through consultations.

The ARF comprises the 10 ASEAN states, China, Japan, the United States, Russia, North and South Korea, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the European Union, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, East Timor, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.

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