MANILA -- The foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ri Hong-Yo, said on Monday that his country has no intention to use nuclear weapons against any other country except the United States.

Ri, in Manila to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), said DPRK "is a responsible nuclear power and ICBM state," referring to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

"We have no intention to use nuclear weapons or threaten with nuclear weapons against any other country except the US, unless it joins action of the US against DPRK," Ri said in a statement to the ARF.

Ri lambasted the US for "trying to internationalize the issue of Korean Peninsula by abusing the United Nations" by claiming that DPRK's possession of nuclear weapons is a "global threat."

He also said that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula was created and developed into the present phase today by the United States.