In the first case, they’re simply wrong, a country is a country. We might disagree on whether it is a sovereign state and worthy of establishing diplomatic ties. In the second case, they’ll have to agree that the America continent has a part that is closer to the pole that a compass points to.
What if someone doesn’t recognize it as a country? Or what if they believe that there’s no north america, that there’s only one american continent?
In the first case, they’re simply wrong, a country is a country. We might disagree on whether it is a sovereign state and worthy of establishing diplomatic ties. In the second case, they’ll have to agree that the America continent has a part that is closer to the pole that a compass points to.