Province-level cities are one of the first-level administrative divisions within South Korea.
There are three types of province-level cities: special, metropolitan, and special self-governing. Currently, there are eight province-level cities: Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Incheon, Jeonnam-Gwangju, Sejong, Seoul, and Ulsan.
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 citiesSpecial Metropolitan CityteukbyeolsiSeoul1Special Metropolitan CitytonghapteukbyeolsiJeonnam–Gwangju1Metropolitan CitygwangyeoksiBusan, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon, Ulsan5Special Self-Governing Cityteukbyeol-jachisiSejong1 Seoul was designated a "special free city" (teukbyeol jayusi; ; ) separate from Gyeonggi Province on August 15, 1946; it became a "special metropolitan city" on August 15, 1949. Metropolitan cities were called "direct control (meaning directly-administered) city" (jikhalsi; ; ) 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 NameHangulHanjaTypeISOPopulation(2017)Area(km2)Density(/km2)City seatRegionProvincesplit fromYear ofSplitBusanMetropolitan cityKR-263,416,918769.894,438.18YeonjeYeongnamSouth Gyeongsang1963DaeguMetropolitan cityKR-272,453,041883.562,776.31JungYeongnamNorth Gyeongsang1981DaejeonMetropolitan cityKR-301,525,849539.352,829.05SeoHoseoSouth Chungcheong1989IncheonMetropolitan cityKR-282,925,9671,062.602,753.59NamdongSudogwonGyeonggi1981Jeonnam-GwangjuSpecial metropolitan city Honam SejongSpecial self-governing cityKR-50356,278465.23594.52Boram-dongHoseoSouth Chungcheong2012Seoul서울*Special metropolitan cityKR-119,741,381605.2116,095.86JungSudogwonGyeonggi1946UlsanMetropolitan cityKR-311,157,0771,060.791,090.76NamYeongnamSouth Gyeongsang1997
Notes: There are no Hanja for "Seoul"; in Chinese, it is written as / (), a transcription based on the pronunciation of "Seoul". As a suffix, the character Gyeong () is used, which means "capital".
See also Administrative divisions of South Korea Cities of South Korea List of cities in South Korea Provinces of South Korea Special cities of North Korea Independent city Direct-administered municipality (Mainland China) Special municipality (Taiwan) Municipalities of Vietnam Federal city Federal cities of Russia — similar systems
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