List of special cities of South Korea
Special cities are one of the first-level administrative divisions within South Korea. There is one first-level city in South Korea: Seoul.
Position in hierarchy and types
Special 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 City | teukbyeolsi | Seoul | 1 | ||
| Metropolitan City | gwangyeoksi | Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan | 6 | ||
| Special Self-Governing City | teukbyeol-jachisi | Sejong | 1 |
- Seoul was designated a "special free city" separate from Gyeonggi Province on August 15, 1946; it became a "special city" on August 15, 1949.
- Metropolitan cities were called "direct control city" before 1995.
Administration
Metropolitan functions such as water supply and public transport are integrated into the sole prefecture other than scattered to each municipality.
List of metropolitan cities
| Name | Hangul | Hanja | Type | Population | Area | Density | 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 | Special self-governing city | KR-50 | 276,589 | 465.23 | 594.52 | Boram-dong | Hoseo | South Chungcheong | 2012 | |
| Seoul | 서울특별시 | 서울特別市* | Special 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, a transcription based on the pronunciation of "Seoul". As a suffix, the character Gyeong is used, which means "capital".
Specific cities that meet the minimum requirements for Metropolitan city status but have not yet been nominated
- Suwon - Population: 1,194,465; Area: 121.04 km²; Density: 9,868.34 /km²
- Changwon - Population: 1,054,154; Area: 747.12 km²; Density: 1,410.95 /km²
- Yongin - Population: 1,048,832; Area: 591.32 km²; Density: 1,773.71 /km²
- Goyang - Population: 1,043,035; Area: 267.41 km²; Density: 3,900.50 /km²
Specific cities with more than 900,000
- Seongnam - Population: 942,649; Area: 141.72 km²; Density: 6,651.48 /km²