"The Bering Strait is the shortest distance between the two greatest powers in the world," said Schurke, who made an unassisted trek to the North Pole in 1986.
She was not admitted, however, and was up and around, walking unassisted into a White House ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom winners on Thursday.
The foreign minister, who was speaking at Oslo University's Aula hall at the end of a two-day official visit, walked out unassisted and was taken in a police car to State Hospital.