Denmark to take steps to boost defense capabilities in Greenland

COPENHAGEN

Denmark is looking to boost its defense capabilities in Greenland amid U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial remarks, media reports said Tuesday.

“For many years we have not invested sufficiently in the Arctic, now we are planning a stronger presence,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told the Jyllands Posten newspaper.

Without spelling out the exact amount, he stressed that the extra budget of double-digit billion krones will be allocated to purchase at least two Tetis-class ocean patrol vessels and two long-range drones and the recruitment of military personnel for the Joint Artic Command, which is responsible for the security of the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Trump said on Dec. 22 on his social media platform, Truth Social, that "for purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the world, the U.S. feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

A day after Trump's comments, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said, "Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland.

"We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom," he added.

Greenland, a self-governing territory under the Danish monarchy, maintains its own parliament and administration while electing two members to Denmark’s Folketing, or parliament.