Special city
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanizationteukbyeolsi
McCune–Reischauert'ŭkpyŏlsi
Metropolitan city
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanizationgwangyeoksi
McCune–Reischauerkwangyŏksi
Special self-governing city
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanizationteukbyeol-jachisi
McCune–Reischauert’ŭkpyŏl-chach’isi

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.

TypeHangulHanjaRRCity namesNo. of cities
Special CityteukbyeolsiSeoul1
Metropolitan CitygwangyeoksiBusan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan6
Special Self-Governing Cityteukbyeol-jachisiSejong1
  • 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 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 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 province-level cities

List of provincial-level cities of South Korea is located in South Korea
Seoul
Seoul
Busan
Busan
Daegu
Daegu
Incheon
Incheon
Gwangju
Gwangju
Daejeon
Daejeon
Ulsan
Ulsan
Sejong
Sejong
Special cites in South Korea
NameHangulHanjaTypeISO Population
(2017)
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
City seat RegionProvince
split from
Year of
Split
Busan부산광역시釜山廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-26 3,416,918769.894,438.18Yeonje YeongnamSouth Gyeongsang1963
Daegu대구광역시大邱廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-27 2,453,041883.562,776.31Jung YeongnamNorth Gyeongsang1981
Incheon인천광역시仁川廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-28 2,925,9671,062.602,753.59Namdong SudogwonGyeonggi1981
Gwangju광주광역시光州廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-29 1,496,172501.242,984.94Seo HonamSouth Jeolla1986
Daejeon대전광역시大田廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-30 1,525,849539.352,829.05Seo HoseoSouth Chungcheong1989
Sejong세종특별자치시世宗特別自治市Special self-governing cityKR-50 356,278465.23594.52Boram-dong HoseoSouth Chungcheong2012
Seoul서울특별시서울特別市*Special cityKR-11 9,741,381605.2116,095.86Jung SudogwonGyeonggi1946
Ulsan울산광역시蔚山廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-31 1,157,0771,060.791,090.76Nam YeongnamSouth Gyeongsang1997

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 (/) is used, which means "capital".

See also

References

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