Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- Following are major news items and articles in leading newspapers of the DPRK on Wednesday:

- On the occasion of the 82nd birth anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il,

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un received a message of greeting from the Syrian president and a floral basket from the Lao president who is general secretary of the C.C., Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

The Second People's Art Festival is going on, and there opened a stamp show and the 10th National Pencil Drawing Festival. And academic degrees and titles were conferred on intellectuals.

- Successes were made in various sectors of the national economy.

Rodong Sinmun

- A monument to field guidance of the peerlessly great persons was erected in the seat of Hyongjesan District, Pyongyang Municipality.

- An editorial calls for intensifying the struggle to attain the 12 major goals.

- There was a meeting of youth and students with the socialist patriotic young vanguard.

- The blasting of 200 000 cubic meter earth was conducted for the first watertight project in the Phyongwon Tideland.

Minju Joson

- An article stresses that the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is a great master in creation as he has provided a socialist paradise by bringing a period of great prosperity in construction.

- The 2024 Ice Sculpture Festival for Celebrating the Day of the Shining Star goes on in Samjiyon City of Ryanggang Province, drawing many visitors every day. -0-