South Korea's geostationary weather satellite was successfully launched from a French space center in South America on Wednesday. 

The Ministry of Science and ICT said that the multipurpose satellite Chollian-2A lifted off aboard the launch vehicle Ariane-5 from the Guiana Space Center at 5:37 a.m. 

The ministry said that the satellite successfully made initial contact with the ground station in Dongara, Australia about 40 minutes after the launch. 

The Chollian-2A, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, will run test operations for six months before providing weather information service from next July.