The United Nations Security Council is mulling over a draft resolution that would reportedly impose some of the strongest sanctions ever against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It is important that such sanctions be kept at a moderate level and all the parties concerned exercise the utmost restraint so that the current vicious cycle of retaliations does not continue.

Pyongyang's third nuclear test on Feb 12 has triggered a chain reaction of tit-for-tat responses and raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula. If the cycle of quid pro quo cannot be broken, it will dim hopes for an easing of tensions in the near future.

True, a new round of sanctions might drive home the message that the rest of the world opposes Pyongyang's nuclear program in the strongest terms. But sanctions are not the best way to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue.