South Korea has fully embarked on the development of a geostationary environmental satellite with the goal of launching it in 2018, the government said Monday.

The Ministry of Environment said that it is pushing ahead with efforts to promote the development of the satellite, which will monitor air pollution and climate change in Northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula.

To meet the goal, the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) under the ministry will select overseas companies for development cooperation within this year and will manufacture the satellite by 2015, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that the satellite will be the first of its kind to be placed into geostationary orbit after Europe and the United States sent similar satellites into low orbit.