Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear program, a seemingly imminent threat looming over the international community, was the focus of a panel discussion in Washington on Wednesday.

"Provocative actions by any side could serve as the last straw that breaks the camel's back," said Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies. "Confrontation would be a price too high for anyone to afford, so cool-headedness and restraint is a much needed policy."

Su made the remarks at a panel where experts from China gathered at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies on Wednesday to discuss approaches to the disarmament of North Korea's nuclear program.

The panel reiterated sentiment expressed by State Councilor Yang Jiechi earlier this month, CCTV news anchor Tian Wei said that the international community needs to "seek solutions through dialogue, and possibly the mechanism of Six-Party Talks".

This has been a hot-button issue recently, commanding the attention of world leaders earlier this month at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

In March, the UN Security Council opted to put sanctions on the DPRK for its nuclear tests in January and February in the form of UNSC Resolution 2270, which was unanimously instated.

The sanctions include restrictions on DPRK's exports, imports of fuel and diplomatic relations. The resolution has been seen as containing the toughest sanctions imposed in more than two decades, according to a press statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Sanctions are only one of the components listed in the UN resolution, according to Su. "This document also reiterates support for the Six-Party Talks. And it asks all parties concerned not to take further actions that might aggravate tensions. From China's view, this resolution must be implemented in its entirety," said Su.

The Six-Party Talks are a dialogue started as a result of DPRK withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 2003. The six participating nations are China, Japan, the US, Russia, DPRK and Republic of Korea.

Su believes these talks are imperative in dealing with the region's concerns.

"The Six-Party Talks mechanism seems to be the most efficient platform for dialogue," Su said. "If conditions are not right for all six parties to come together, we will be flexible and willing to consider a dialogue consultation with less than all of the six parties."

DPRK's recent aggressive actions have world leaders leaning further away from constructive diplomacy through sanctions or diplomacy, according to Yang Xiyu, senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, who believes DPRK is indirectly seeking talks, rather than trying to start a war.

"Unfortunately, they've been approaching this by the wrong means," Yang said. "Their true intentions are to put pressure on the US to come back to the negotiating table. Behind this bad behavior, we need to look for the true nature of North Korea's intentions."

Despite the intensifying tensions between the countries, Su believes constructive cooperation must be pursued. "Diplomacy is the art of building bridges between seemingly impossible terms. Means may differ, but the ends are to bring the nuclear issue on the peninsula back to the negotiation table," said Su.

Allan Fong in Washington contributed to this story.