Not sure about the criteria but if you research this you'll find out it doesn't border the North Sea. Maybe the Skagerrak strait is considered something on it's own as there needs to be something that draws the line between North and Baltic sea.
The Skagerrak is not it's own thing. The boundary between two seas is the narrowest point of two land masses seperating them meaning the Skagerrak as well as the Kattegat are both part of the North Sea. The Oresund and the Great Belt are the boundaries.
A country in Asia? No... I don't think anyone would ever have realised that! Well thanks for your suggestion to do some research, I'm 100% certain it definitely helped.
I feel like Sweden should be included as it borders the Skagerrak, which has been defined as an extend arm of North Sea in here, here and here. Also the Wikipedia article for North Sea counts Sweden as a bordering country.
Sweden is directly North of Denmark; Germany is to its South. That's how I concluded that Sweden fits the criteria better than Germany. To me it seems that Germany's access to the North sea is blocked by Denmark.
@divantilya Germany DOES border the north sea. That's a fact. Just look at a map. We have a longer coastline on the north sea than the Netherlands, Belgium or France and we are more to the north than them as well. I have no idea why they are not including Sweden but it probably has to to with some people arguing that the Skagerrak strait is part of the Baltic Sea which it clearly is not...
I was wondering about the Skagerrak as well, but it does appear that the International Hydrographic Organisation excludes it, as it defines the North Sea's eastern border as "The Western limit of the Skagerrak. A line joining Hanstholm (57°07′N 8°36′E) and the Naze (Lindesnes, 58°N 7°E)."
Confusingly, the same International Hydrographic Organisation's North Sea Hydrographic Commission *does* include Sweden (but also Iceland and Ireland)...
This issue doesn't seem 100% clear to me, because the IHO's definition of the Baltic also seems to exclude the Skagerrak and Kattegat, which would then each be their own thing, and not part of any sea?
Confusingly, the same International Hydrographic Organisation's North Sea Hydrographic Commission *does* include Sweden (but also Iceland and Ireland)...
This issue doesn't seem 100% clear to me, because the IHO's definition of the Baltic also seems to exclude the Skagerrak and Kattegat, which would then each be their own thing, and not part of any sea?