Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Special cities of North Korea

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Category
  
Unitary State

Number
  
4 Special Cities

Special cities of North Korea

Location
  
Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Populations
  
205,000 (Rason) – 3,255,388 (Pyongyang)

Areas
  
710 square miles (1,800 km) (Rason) – 400 square miles (1,000 km) (Pyongyang)

Government
  
Single-Party Government

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.

Contents

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.

    • References

    Special cities of North Korea Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA