From the Barents Observer:
Denmark’s claim covers approximately 900,000 square kilometres – or about 20 times the size of Denmark.
Denmark will on Monday afternoon become the first country to claim ownership of the North Pole. Scientific data shows Greenland’s continental shelf is connected to a ridge beneath the Arctic Ocean, says Denmark’s Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard.*Just kidding, .dk is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Denmark.
The Government of Denmark will together with the Government of Greenland claim ownership of around 900,000 square kilometers of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean by filing a submission to United Nations. The area is area is as large as France and Germany put together and 20 times bigger than Denmark itself.
With the move, Denmark will become the first country in the world to attempt to claim outright ownership of the North Pole.
“The submission of our claim to the continental shelf north of Greenland is a historic and important milestone for the Kingdom of Denmark,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said in a statement.
Submissions by many States already await consideration by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Denmark acknowledges that Norway’s continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles overlaps the Danish claim. It may also overlap with claims by Canada, Russia and the United States.
Russia claims that the Lomonosov Ridge, which goes straight across the North Pole, is a continuation of the Russian continental shelf and plans to file a claim in spring 2015....MORE
