Special cities are one of the first-level administrative divisions within
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
. There are four special cities in North Korea.
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
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
.
List of special cities
Note: 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 coming from South Korea, refer the city as a special city; however, these are old sources. Moreover, South Korea has corrected the city as a directly governed city, according to a South Korean newspaper in 1994. The official name of Pyongyang would be "Pyongyang''-si''" in the Republic of Korea, which officially claims to represent the entire peninsula.
List of defunct special cities
See also
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Administrative divisions of North Korea
The administrative divisions of North Korea are organized into three hierarchical levels. These divisions were created in 2002. Many of the units have equivalents in the system of South Korea. At the highest level are nine provinces and fou ...
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List of cities in North Korea
The important cities of North Korea have self-governing status equivalent to that of provinces. Pyongyang, the largest city and capital, is classified as a chikhalsi (Special cities of North Korea, capital city), while three cities (see the list ...
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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 admini ...
References
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Further reading
*Dormels, Rainer. North Korea's Cities: Industrial facilities, internal structures and typification. Jimoondang, 2014.
{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries
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Special cities