Special cities of North Korea

Special city
Category	Unitary State
Location	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Number	4 Special Cities
Populations	205,000 (Rason) – 3,255,388 (Pyongyang)
Areas	710 square miles (1,800 km2) (Rason) – 400 square miles (1,000 km2) (Pyongyang)
Government	Single-Party Government
Subdivisions	District, County

Special cities are one of the first-level administrative division within North Korea. There are 3 top-level cities in North Korea: Pyongyang, Rason and Nampo.

Position in hierarchy and types

Special cities are the higher-ranked administrative divisions in North Korea. There are three kinds of special cities in North Korea.

The first level cities have equal status to the provinces.

List of special cities

Notes

• Pyongyang is classified as a capital city (chikhalsi), not a special city as Seoul in South Korea. In fact, the North Korean national newspaper and broadcasting say "Pyongyang Chikhalsi". Some sources, most of them come from South Korea, refer the city as a special city; however these are the old sources. Moreover, South Korea has corrected the city as a directly governed city, according to a South Korean newspaper in 1994. Also note that the official name of Pyongyang would be "Pyongyang-si" in the Republic of Korea, which officially claims to represent the entire peninsula.
• Special-level city is the second level administrative division. Kaesong is still a part of North Hwanghae Province.
• Namp'o is officially part of South Pyongan province.

List of defunct special cities

See also

• Administrative divisions of North Korea
• List of cities in North Korea
• Special cities of South Korea

References

The sources for this section are Chosun Ilbo's pages 행정구역 현황 ("Haengjeong Guyeok Hyeonhwang") and 행정구역 개편 일지 ("Haengjeong Guyeok Gaepyeon Ilji") (in Korean only; updated 2004).

Further reading

• Dormels, Rainer. North Korea's Cities: Industrial facilities, internal structures and typification. Jimoondang, 2014. ISBN 978-89-6297-167-5