The nation's multi-purpose satellite, Arirang-2, is scheduled to be launched at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia within this year.

Cosmodrome press secretary Anna Patekhina announced Tuesday that the decision had been made by Eurokot, a Russo-German joint aerospace firm.

The company is in charge of the satellites' launches, whereas the Korea Aerospace Research Institute is responsible for hardware development.

The latest decision is expected to invigorate efforts to launch the Arirang-2 and five other South Korean multi-purposes satellites.

Patekhina announced that the satellite project would be carried out over several years, after which time a total of six Korean satellites will have been blasted into orbit on the back of a Russian rocket.

South Korea has been waiting to send the Arirang-2 into orbit ever since the successful launch of the Arirang-1 at the U.S. Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 21st, 1999.