NUUK (NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE)

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark arrived in Greenland on Friday for an unannounced visit, as the crisis over Greenland’s future seemed to ease but not end.

Frederiksen landed around midday and met privately for about an hour with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Greenland, a semiautonomous island that has been part of the Danish kingdom for 300 years. The two visited the waterfront of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, went to a kindergarten, and met with other Greenlandic officials before a short evening walk through the city.

The trip came amid continued pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has said the United States needs Greenland for national security, and it appeared to have been meant as reassurance to the 57,000 people who live in Greenland.

Frederiksen described the visit as a working meeting and stressed the need for close coordination between Copenhagen and Nuuk. 

Before flying to Greenland on Friday, Frederiksen met with Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary-general, in Brussels. Trump suggested Wednesday that a conversation with Rutte had produced a breakthrough on Greenland.

Western officials have said that one possible compromise under discussion was a proposal for the United States to own pockets of land in Greenland for military bases. Currently, there is one active US base.