North Korea has dismissed media reports that it is cooperating with Syria on nuclear activities, calling the reports "a clumsy ploy" and reaffirming that it will not transfer nuclear materials.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday told the North’s Korean Central News Agency that Pyongyang, as a responsible nuclear power, had already declared last October that it would never allow the transfer of nuclear materials. The spokesman added that the North always keeps its promises.

The remarks follow a series of news reports that Israeli intelligence officials claim to have evidence pointing to North Korea's assistance in building a nuclear program in Syria.

Pyongyang declared that it would observe its responsibility to the goal of nuclear nonproliferation as it announced its first nuclear test last October.