The administrative divisions of

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 ...

are organized into three hierarchical levels. These divisions were created in 2002. Many of the units have equivalents in the

system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. At the highest level are nine

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 ...

and four special municipalities. The second-level divisions are cities, counties, and districts. These are further subdivided into third-level entities: towns, dongs (neighborhoods), ris (villages), and workers’ districts. The three-level administrative system used in North Korea was first inaugurated by

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

in 1952, as part of a massive restructuring of local government. Previously, the country had used a multi-level system similar to that still used in

. (The English translations are not official, but approximations. Names are romanized according to the McCune-Reischauer system as officially used in North Korea; the editor was also guided by the spellings used on the 2003

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

map of Korea).

First-level divisions

The nine provinces (''To''; , ) derive from the traditional

provinces of Korea Korea's provinces ('' Do''; hangul: 도; hanja: ) have been the primary administrative division of Korea since the mid Goryeo dynasty in the early 11th century, and were preceded by provincial-level divisions (''Ju'' and ''Mok'') dating back to U ...

, but have been further subdivided since the

division of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Empire of Japan, Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allies of World War II, Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached ...

. They are large areas including cities, rural and mountainous regions. The four special cities (''T’ŭkpyŏlsi''; , ) are large metropolitan cities that have been separated from their former provinces to become first-level units. Four other cities have been directly governed in the past, but were subsequently reunited with their provinces or otherwise reorganized. The three special administrative regions were all created in 2002 for the development of collaborative ventures with

and other countries. One of them, the

Sinuiju Special Administrative Region Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region is a special administrative region (SAR) of North Korea proclaimed in 2002 (but has yet to be put into ''de facto'' operation), on the border with China. It was established in September 2002 in an area inc ...

, was intended to draw

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

investment and enterprise, but as of 2006 appears never to have been implemented. The special administrative regions do not have any known second- and third-level subdivisions.

Second-level divisions

:''See

List of second-level administrative divisions of North Korea This is a list of all second-level administrative divisions of North Korea, including ''cities'', ''counties'', ''workers' districts'', ''districts'', and ''wards'', organized by province or directly governed city. Pyongyang Directly Governed ...

for a complete list. DPRK Administrative Divisions

The most common second-level division is the county (''Kun''; , ), a less urbanized area within a province or directly governed city. The more populous districts within provinces are cities (''Si''; , ). The city centers of the directly governed cities are organized into districts (''Kuyŏk'', equivalent to

n ''Gu'').

Third-level divisions

Rural parts of cities and counties are organized into villages (''Ri'', ). The downtown areas within cities are divided into neighborhoods (''

Tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

'', ), and a populous part of a county forms a town (''Ŭp'', ). Some counties also have workers’ districts (''Rodongjagu'', ).

Sources

Panorama of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(

Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ) is a daily newspaper in South Korea and the oldest daily newspaper in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, the ''Chosun Ilbo'' has been audited annually since the Audit Bureau of Circulations w ...

)
행정구역 개편 일지 ("Haengjeong Guyeok Gaepyeon Ilji")
(

)

External links

NKChosun administrative regions mapAdministrative regions map

World Food Programme The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

{{Asia topic, Administrative divisions of Korea, North Korea, North North Korea geography-related lists

First-level divisions

Second-level divisions

Third-level divisions

See also

Sources

External links