Pyongyang, November 20 (KCNA) -- For the past 20 years since the February 16 Science and Technology Prize was instituted, dozens of units and more than a thousand and hundreds of scientists and technicians were awarded the prize in the DPRK.

The prize was instituted as the top one of the sci-tech field of the country in Juche 92 (2003).

In 2004, a ceremony for awarding the first prize was held to mark the birth anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il.

Since then, the science research activities to put the cutting-edge science and technology of the country onto the high level and tackle the urgent sci-tech problems needed for the national economic development have been gaining momentum, and the number of the prize winners is on an annual rise. -0-