While it’s somewhat impressive that North Korea was able to so quickly pull off the construction of these ships in such a short amount of time, a year is nowhere near long enough to conduct rigorous testing. Even if the corners being cut weren’t responsible for the second of these warships capsizing, the odds are that they would have started causing issues later on. That speed of construction also raises an interesting question: Is North Korea’s naval modernization more about building up national prestige than it is about developing a credible threat against its enemies? It’s possible, perhaps even likely,...