U.S. boosts missile defense readiness in response to North Korea's "serious escalation" with recent missile tests

U.S. officials said Thursday that the Pentagon was amplifying its readiness in the Pacific in light of two North Korean missile tests over the past two weeks. North Korea said the launches were to help develop satellites, but as CBS News Asia correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, American intelligence agencies believe Kim Jong Un's military was really testing components of its gigantic "Hwasong-17" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The new weapon was rolled out in a military parade in 2020, but as far as anyone knows, it has never actually been fired. If the missile works the way it has been designed to, it could potentially reach anywhere in the continental United States.