GOCI, the first Geostationary Ocean Color Imager, shall be operated in a staring-frame capture mode onboard its Communication Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) and tentatively scheduled for launch in 2008. The mission concept includes eight visible-to-near-infrared bands, 0.5 km pixel resolution, and a coverage region of 2,500 × 2,500 km centered at Korea. The GOCI is expected to provide SeaWiFS quality observations for a single study area with imaging interval of 1 hour from 10 am to 5 pm. In the GOCI swath area, the optical properties of the East Sea (typical of Case-I water), the Yellow Sea and East China Sea (typical of Case-II water) are investigated. For developing the GOCI bio-optical algorithms in optically more complex waters, it is necessary to study and understand the optical properties around the Korean Sea. Radiometric measurements were made using WETLabs AC-S, TriOS RAMSES ACC/ARC, and ASD FieldSpec Pro Dual VNIR Spectroradiometer. Seawater samples were collected concurrently with the radiometric measurements at about 300 points around the Korean Sea during 1998 to 2007. The absorption coefficients were determined using Perkin-Elmer Lambda 19 dual-beam spectrophotometer. We analyzed the absorption coefficient of sea water constituents such as phytoplankton, Suspended Sediment (SS) and Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM). Two kinds of chlorophyll algorithms are developed by using statistical regression and fluorescence-based technique considering the bio-optical properties in Case-II waters. Fluorescence measurements were related to in situ Chl-a concentrations to obtain the Flu(681), Flu(688) and Flu(area) algorithms, which were compared with those from standard spectral ratios of the remote sensing reflectance. The single band algorithm for is derived by relationship between Rrs (555) and in situ concentration. The CDOM is estimated by absorption spectra and its slope centered at 440 nm wavelength. These standard algorithms will be programmed