Danish mink farmers have received an apology before American schoolchildren.

The official apology followed a year-long investigation and production of a 4,500-page report.

On Friday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized to Danish farmers for the November 2020 culling of the country’s entire mink population “over fears that a mutated version of the coronavirus that had infected mink could diminish the effectiveness of vaccines.”

“I know you lost your life’s work, and I am truly sorry for the frustration and grief it has caused,” Ms. Frederiksen said, adding that the government would be taking seriously criticism of its handling of the situation.

Controversially, however, the prime minister still argued that the culling was “necessary,” because Denmark “had a responsibility for the health of the entire world.”

In any event, a formal and direct apology — “truly sorry” — was still issued from Denmark’s head of government following an exhaustive investigation into one of the country’s most controversial pandemic actions.

The 4,500-page report finds fault with prime minister Mette Frederiksen, who, it says, made “grossly misleading” statements about the legal basis of the mink cull at a November 2020 press conference.

The commission also said that Frederiksen “did not have knowledge about of the intention of” misleading, meaning she was not aware that the legal basis for the decision was not in place, according to the reports.

In its report, the commission wrote that “severe misleading” had occurred over the mink cullings, called the events “exceptionally criticisable” and that laws had been broken.

Thousands of pages were written and those most responsible were singled out for criticism.

Barbara Bertelsen, head of the prime minister’s department, and Mogens Jensen, former minister of food, agriculture, and fisheries, are the subject of particular criticism in the report.

“It is the assessment of the commission that the head of the prime minister’s department Barbara Bertelsen has committed derelictions of duty of such severity that there is a basis for the public to seek to hold her accountable,” the report states.

Bertelsen, as a lawyer, should have questioned the legality of the order to cull the minks, the…