This research is aimed at evaluating the land surface characterization of KOMPSAT-3A middle infrared (MIR) data. Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS) data, which has MIR bands with high spatial resolution, were used to assess land surface temperature (LST) retrieval and classification accuracy of MIR bands. Firstly, LST values for daytime and nighttime, which were calculated with AHS thermal infrared (TIR) bands, were compared to digital number of AHS MIR bands. The determination coefficient of AHS band 68 (center wavelength $4.64{mu}m$) was over 0.74, and was higher than other MIR bands. Secondly, The land cover maps were generated by unsupervised classification methods using the AHS MIR bands. Each class of land cover maps for daytime, such as water, trees, green grass, roads, roofs, was distinguished well. But some classes of land cover maps for nighttime, such as trees versus green grass, roads versus roofs, were not separated. The image classification using the difference images between daytime AHS MIR bands and nighttime AHS MIR bands were conducted to enhance the discrimination ability of land surface for AHS MIR imagery. The classification accuracy of the land cover map for zone 1 and zone 2 was 67.5%, 64.3%, respectively. It was improved by 10% compared to land cover map of daytime AHS MIR bands and night AHS MIR bands. Consequently, new algorithm based on land surface characteristics is required for temperature retrieval of high resolution MIR imagery, and the difference images between daytime and nighttime was considered to enhance the ability of land surface characterization using high resolution MIR data.