A visit by the Canadian defence minister to a barren island in the Arctic has sparked a row with Denmark.
Bill Graham landed on Hans Island, which is claimed by Canada and Denmark, during a tour of Canadian military outposts in the region.
The status of the island - an outcrop barely 100 metres wide between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland - has been disputed for more than 30 years.
The Danish government says it will send a letter of protest to Canada.
The dispute started in 1973 when Denmark and Canada drew a border down the Nares Strait, between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
The sovereignty of Hans Island was left to be determined later.
"We consider Hans Island to be part of Danish territory and will therefore hand over a complaint about the Canadian minister's unannounced visit," head of the department of International Public Law at Denmark's Foreign Ministry, Peter Taksoe-Jensen, told Reuters.
In 1984, a Danish minister, Tom Hoeyem, caused a stir when he visited the island and raised the Danish flag.
Mr Hoeyem also buried a bottle of brandy at the base of the flagpole and left a note saying welcome to Denmark.
The UPI news agency reported that Canadian troops landed on the island a week before Mr Graham's visit, planted a Canadian flag and built an Inuit stone marker.
Reports say Canadian troops leave whiskey at the flagpole on their incursions.