Earth and environmental remote sensing community in South Korea: A review

• This paper reviews the satellite remote sensing community in Korea.
• Education has led to rapid growth of the Korean satellite remote sensing community.
• Korea faces shortcomings in the applicability of satellites to industry and society.
• Two geostationary satellites (GK-2A and GK-2B) alleviate these shortcomings.

This paper is a review of the satellite remote sensing community in South Korea, in the field of Earth and environmental sciences. The community has been invigorated by the Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS), the first Korean geostationary satellite project. Since its successful launch on July 26, 2010, about 300 organizations have officially received remotely sensed COMS data. This paper describes how satellite remote sensing has been used for decision-making in Korea, and the evolution of the associated education system. Despite the rapid development of remote sensing, Korea is facing shortcomings in the applicability of remote sensing to industry and society. The two future geostationary satellites planned by the Korean Government, GK (Geo-KOMPSAT)-2A and GK-2B, for monitoring climate and the environment in East Asia from 2018/2019 will alleviate these shortcomings.