Denmark sent private messages in recent days to President-elect Trump's team expressing willingness to discuss boosting security in Greenland or increasing the U.S. military presence on the island, two sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios.

The Greenland question is a delicate one for Denmark, whose prime minister officially apologised only recently for spearheading a 1950s social experiment which saw Inuit children removed from their families to be re-educated as "model Danes". Last week, Greenland's leader said the territory should free itself from "the shackles of colonialism."

During a press conference, the president-elect of the United States did not rule out the use of force to seize the autonomous territory. His remarks have sparked strong reactions within the Scandinavian kingdom,