List of provincial-level cities of South Korea

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South Korea adm location map.svg
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Seoul
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Busan
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Daegu
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Incheon
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Gwangju
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Daejeon
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Ulsan
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Sejong
Special cites in South Korea
Special metropolitan city

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

Contents

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 namesNo. of cities
Special Metropolitan City특별시特別市teukbyeolsi Seoul 1
Metropolitan City광역시廣域市gwangyeoksi Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan 6
Special Self-Governing City특별자치시特別自治市teukbyeol-jachisi Sejong 1

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

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 cityKR-263,416,918769.894,438.18 Yeonje Yeongnam South Gyeongsang 1963
Daegu 대구광역시大邱廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-272,453,041883.562,776.31 Jung Yeongnam North Gyeongsang 1981
Incheon 인천광역시仁川廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-282,925,9671,062.602,753.59 Namdong Sudogwon Gyeonggi 1981
Gwangju 광주광역시光州廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-291,496,172501.242,984.94 Seo Honam South Jeolla 1986
Daejeon 대전광역시大田廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-301,525,849539.352,829.05 Seo Hoseo South Chungcheong 1989
Sejong 세종특별자치시世宗特別自治市Special self-governing cityKR-50356,278465.23594.52 Boram-dong Hoseo South Chungcheong 2012
Seoul 서울특별시서울特別市*Special metropolitan cityKR-119,741,381605.2116,095.86 Jung Sudogwon Gyeonggi 1946
Ulsan 울산광역시蔚山廣域市Metropolitan cityKR-311,157,0771,060.791,090.76 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 (;) 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.