Danish PM to visit Greenland amid US interest in Arctic territory

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Greenland on April 2-4 to meet with the semi-autonomous territory’s new administration, she said on Saturday, amid US interest in gaining control of the Arctic island.

“I look forward to continuing the close and trusting cooperation between Greenland and Denmark,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

During a visit to a US military base in northern Greenland on Friday, US Vice President JD Vance accused Denmark, which has controlled the island since 1721, of not doing a good job of keeping it safe and suggested that the US would better protect the strategically located island.

He made his statements hours after Greenland established a new wide government coalition led by Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who described Denmark as its closest friend.

Frederiksen, who has stated that it is up to the people of Greenland to determine their own destiny, said on Friday that Vance’s portrayal of Denmark was unfair.

“I have the deepest respect for how the Greenlandic people and Greenlandic politicians are handling the great pressure on Greenland,” she said in the statement on Saturday.

“It is a situation that calls for unity across political parties and across the countries in the Realm.”