Danish foreign minister receives death threat

“I’ll shoot when you come to Greenland,” was the death threat made in an unsigned letter to Per Stig Møller, the Danish foreign minister, who was due to arrive in Nuuk on Tuesday.

The death threat came in the wake of an increasingly heated debate about upgrading Thule’s radar system to a U.S. national missile defense system site.

As planned, Møller went to the Thule air base in north Greenland on Monday.

Police in Nuuk had planned to increase security during Møller’s visit. Various political parties and organizations were to hold a large demonstration at the Nuuk airport to protest the minister’s arrival, but after news of the threat against Møller surfaced, they opted for a change in plans.

Instead, a peaceful demonstration was planned to take place outside the Home Rule government’s offices on Tuesday afternoon.

However, stormy conditions meant Møller did not arrive on Tuesday in Nuuk as expected.

During his brief stay in Thule, Møller did not visit Qaanaaq, whose residents have long criticized the Danish government for its role in relocating residents from Thule to Qaanaaq in the 1950s.

Again they are passing us again, that’s not fair,” said Naimanngitsoq Peterson, mayor of the commune of Avanersuaq.

In Thule, Møller did meet with Greenland’s premier, Hans Enoksen, and the two reportedly moved closer to a joint position on Thule. This would see the 1951 agreement between Denmark and the U.S. amended — but not completely renegotiated — in such a way that the U.S. could proceed with its plans to upgrade the base to a national missile defense site capable of deflecting rogue missiles from U.S. air space.