The nation's first geostationary ocean weather-communications satellite, the “Cheollian,” came dangerously close to colliding with a Russian satellite earlier this week.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Wednesday that between Monday and Tuesday, the “Cheollian” came within three kilometers of a Russian communications satellite at 128-point-two degrees east longitude.

The institute said it used a satellite thruster to revise the Korean satellite’s orbit in order to put separation between the two satellites.

The same Russian satellite had come within five kilometers of the Cheollian earlier on January 14th and had also come close to two Japanese satellites in the same orbit.

Currently, there are 120 kilometers between the Russian satellite and the Cheollian.

The institute said Seoul and Tokyo jointly raised concerns about the matter to Russia, but that Moscow has yet to make a response.