Denmark is bolstering defense spending in Greenland, said a Danish official Tuesday who called the announcement's timing with President-elect Trump's suggestion that the U.S. should own the territory an "irony of fate.

The Danish Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday a massive new defence expenditure centred on Greenland, the Arctic territory rich in minerals and natural resources that Copenhagen lays claim to and which US President-elect Donald Trump covets.

Since his first term, President-elect Donald Trump has insisted that the United States should purchase Greenland - to the bewilderment of aides asked to investigate such a possibility, and despite repeated denials by top officials in Greenland and Denmark, of which the island is an autonomous territory, that it would ever be for sale at any price.