List of provincial-level cities of South Korea

Metropolitan city
Special metropolitan city
Hangul	특별시
Hanja	特別市
Revised Romanization	teukbyeolsi
McCune–Reischauer	t'ŭkpyŏlsi
Hangul	광역시
Hanja	廣域市
Revised Romanization	gwangyeoksi
McCune–Reischauer	kwangyŏksi
Special self-governing city
Hangul	특별자치시
Hanja	特別自治市
Revised Romanization	teukbyeol-jachisi
McCune–Reischauer	t'ŭkpyŏl-chach'isi

Administrative divisions of South Korea
This article is part of a series on the
Provincial level
Province (list)
Special self-governing province (Jeju, Gangwon and North Jeolla)
Special city (Seoul)
Metropolitan city (list)
Special self-governing city (Sejong)
Municipal level
Specific city (list)
City (list)
County (list)
Autonomous District (list)
Submunicipal level
Administrative city (list)
Non-autonomous District (list)
Neighborhoods and Towns
Town (list)
Township (list)
Neighborhood (list)
Villages
Village (list)
Communities
Ward
v t e

Province-level cities are one of the first-level administrative divisions within South Korea. There are three types: special, metropolitan, and special self-governing.

Position in hierarchy and types

Province-level cities have equal status to provinces in the South Korean administrative scheme, and are among the highest-ranked administrative divisions of South Korea. There are three kinds of first-level city in South Korea.

Type	Hangul	Hanja	RR	City names	No. of cities
Special Metropolitan City	특별시	特別市	teukbyeolsi	Seoul	1
Metropolitan City	광역시	廣域市	gwangyeoksi	Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan	6
Special Self-Governing City	특별자치시	特別自治市	teukbyeol-jachisi	Sejong	1

Seoul was designated a "special free city" (teukbyeol jayusi; 특별자유시; 特別自由市) separate from Gyeonggi Province on August 15, 1946; it became a "special metropolitan city" on August 15, 1949.^[1]
Metropolitan cities were called "direct control (meaning directly-administered) city" (jikhalsi; 직할시; 直轄市) before 1995.

Administration

In South Korean special metropolitan city and metropolitan cities, the mayor is the highest-ranking official in charge. The mayor is directly elected by the people registered in the city for a duration of four years (e.g., the mayor of Seoul).

Metropolitan functions such as water supply and public transport are integrated into the sole prefecture other than scattered to each municipality.

List of provincial-level cities

List of provincial-level cities of South Korea is located in South Korea

Seoul

Busan

Daegu

Incheon

Gwangju

Daejeon

Ulsan

Sejong

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Special cites in South Korea

Name	Hangul	Hanja	Type	ISO	Population (2017)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)	City seat	Region	Province split from	Year of Split
Busan	부산광역시	釜山廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-26	3,416,918	769.89	4,438.18	Yeonje	Yeongnam	South Gyeongsang	1963
Daegu	대구광역시	大邱廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-27	2,453,041	883.56	2,776.31	Jung	Yeongnam	North Gyeongsang	1981
Incheon	인천광역시	仁川廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-28	2,925,967	1,062.60	2,753.59	Namdong	Sudogwon	Gyeonggi	1981
Gwangju	광주광역시	光州廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-29	1,496,172	501.24	2,984.94	Seo	Honam	South Jeolla	1986
Daejeon	대전광역시	大田廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-30	1,525,849	539.35	2,829.05	Seo	Hoseo	South Chungcheong	1989
Sejong	세종특별자치시	世宗特別自治市	Special self-governing city	KR-50	356,278	465.23	594.52	Boram-dong	Hoseo	South Chungcheong	2012
Seoul	서울특별시	서울特別市*	Special metropolitan city	KR-11	9,741,381	605.21	16,095.86	Jung	Sudogwon	Gyeonggi	1946
Ulsan	울산광역시	蔚山廣域市	Metropolitan city	KR-31	1,157,077	1,060.79	1,090.76	Nam	Yeongnam	South Gyeongsang	1997

Notes: There are no Hanja for "Seoul"; in Chinese, it is written as 首爾/首尔 (pinyin: Shǒu'ěr), a transcription based on the pronunciation of "Seoul". As a suffix, the character Gyeong (경; 京) is used, which means "capital".

See also

References

^ 행정연혁 (in Korean). Seoul Metropolitan Government. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

v t e Regions and administrative divisions of South Korea
Regions	Gyeonggi Capital area Gwandong Yeongdong Yeongseo Hoseo Daejeon–Sejong–Chungnam Chungbuk Honam Yeongnam Daegu–Gyeongbuk Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongnam Southeastern MIR Jeju
Provinces	North Chungcheong South Chungcheong Gyeonggi North Gyeongsang South Gyeongsang South Jeolla (Claimed five Northern Korean Provinces)
Special self-governing province and States	Jeju Gangwon Jeonbuk
Special city	Seoul
Special self-governing city	Sejong
Metropolitan cities	Busan Daegu Daejeon Gwangju Incheon Ulsan

v t e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia² Azerbaijan¹ Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus² East Timor Egypt¹ Georgia¹ India Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan¹ North Korea province special city South Korea province provincial-level city Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia¹ Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey¹ Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam province municipality Yemen¹
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Northern Cyprus² Palestine South Ossetia² Taiwan
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Asia and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

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