The meeting was led by a senior official from the ministry, department chief Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, and also included a representative from Greenland’s government, Naalakkersuisut, news wire Ritzau reports.
“The focus of the conversation was the story in the Wall Street Journal titled ‘U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Step Up Spying on Greenland’,” the Danish ministry said in a written statement.
No further detail about the conversation was initially released by the ministry.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen previously said that the acting US ambassador would be called in for a meeting, after the WSJ reported that Washington would intensify spying on Greenland.
The article "raised a lot of concern, because friends don't spy on each other", Rasmussen saidon Wednesday.
"This is very serious, so we will summon the ambassador for a meeting at the foreign ministry,” he said.
READ ALSO: United States to 'step up espionage' on Denmark and Greenland as part of takeover goal
US President Donald Trump’s nominated ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, is not yet in Copenhagen as he is awaiting confirmation by the US Senate.
The WSJ report cited two people as saying the United States was stepping up its intelligence gathering on Greenland.
Rasmussen said he hoped, "obviously, that this can be refuted" during the meeting with the US envoy, and "in any case the aim is to make clear Denmark's position on this issue."
“It’s very concerning if the approach is now to gather intelligence in Denmark and Greenland, apparently with the aim of identifying potential divisions to exploit.
“That’s not the kind of cooperation we should have, so I view this with considerable seriousness,” he said to Ritzau.
The US Embassy declined to comment on the story when approached by Ritzau on Wednesday.
Meetings like the one which took place onThursday can be used to gather information but also to send a clear diplomatic signal to the country whose ambassador has been summoned.
Trump has insisted he wants to seize the autonomous Danish territory, claiming Washington needs control of the mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
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