South Korea will launch its first weather-communications satellite in March that will allow the country to gather high-quality ocean meteorological data.

The satellite will be placed in geostationary orbit 36,000km from Earth and be equipped with a multi-spectrum camera and sensor array that can help monitor typhoons, ocean temperatures, the movement of dust and cloud formations, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

"The satellite, built in cooperation with Astrium, has been assembled in the country by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and will be shipped to Toulouse, France, within the month for final performance evaluations," Yoo Guk-hee, head of the ministry's space development division, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

The official added that cooperation with Astrium, a global leader in satellite production, has helped improve the country's capabilities in this state-of-the-art field.

The actual launch of the satellite will take place at the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou in South America, he said.

South Korea spent 355.8 billion won ($304.6 million) in the last seven year to build the high-tech communication, ocean and meteorological satellite (COMS).

The ministry said that once the COMS is in orbit, Seoul will be able to receive faster and more accurate weather information and related ocean conditions near the Korean Peninsula compared with present.

Currently South Korea gets its ocean-related meteorological information from Japan, causing a time delay of 30 minutes between actual changes in weather and the time it takes to reach local experts. This lag time can be halved to 15 minutes under ordinary conditions and seven in case of emergencies like the approach of a typhoon.

The satellite, which can also function as a regular communications satellite, has an operational life of seven years.

South Korea is the seventh country in the world to actually build a commercially viable indigenous satellite, and plans to launch several multi-purpose satellites in the coming years.