Administrative divisions of South Korea

South Korea is made up of 17 first-tier administrative divisions: 6 metropolitan cities, 1 special city, 1 special self-governing city, and 9 provinces, including three special self-governing provinces and six claimed by the ROK government. These are further subdivided into a variety of smaller entities, including [List of List of cities in South Korea|cities in South Korea|cities], counties, [List of List of districts in South Korea|districts in South Korea|districts], [List of List of towns in South Korea|towns in South Korea|towns], [List of List of townships in South Korea|townships in South Korea|townships], [List of List of neighborhoods in South Korea|neighborhoods in South Korea|neighborhoods] and villages.

Local government

Official Revised Romanization of Korean spellings are used

Level	Group name	Type	Hangeul	Hanja	RR Romaja	No.
1	Upper-level local autonomy 광역지방자치단체 廣域地方自治團體	Province	도	道	do	6
1	Upper-level local autonomy 광역지방자치단체 廣域地方自治團體	Special self-governing province	특별자치도	特別自治道	teukbyeol-jachido	3
1	Upper-level local autonomy 광역지방자치단체 廣域地方自治團體	Special city	특별시	特別市	teukbyeolsi	1
1	Upper-level local autonomy 광역지방자치단체 廣域地方自治團體	Special self-governing city	특별자치시	特別自治市	teukbyeol-jachisi	1
1	Upper-level local autonomy 광역지방자치단체 廣域地方自治團體	Metropolitan city	광역시	廣域市	gwangyeoksi	6
2	Lower-level local autonomy 기초지방자치단체 基礎地方自治團體	City	시	市	si	60
2	Lower-level local autonomy 기초지방자치단체 基礎地方自治團體	City	시	市	si	15
2	Lower-level local autonomy 기초지방자치단체 基礎地方自治團體	County	군	郡	gun	82
2	Lower-level local autonomy 기초지방자치단체 基礎地方自治團體	District	구	區	gu	69
3	N/A	City	시	市	si	2
3	N/A	District	구	區	gu	35
4	N/A	Town	읍	邑	eup	216
4	N/A	Township	면	面	myeon	1198
4	N/A	Neighborhood	동	洞	dong	2073
4	N/A	Neighborhood	동	洞	dong	2073
5	N/A	Urban Village	통	統	tong
5	N/A	Rural Village	리	里	ri
6	N/A	Hamlet	반	班	ban

Provincial-level divisions

The top tier of administrative divisions are the provincial-level divisions, of which there are several types: provinces, metropolitan cities, special cities, and special self-governing cities. The governors of the provincial-level divisions are elected every four years.

Code	Emblem	Name	Official English name	Capital	Hangul	Hanja	Population 2020 Census	Area	Population density 2022
KR-11		Seoul special city	Seoul	Jung District	서울특별시		9,586,195	605.20	15,578.16
KR-26		Busan metropolitan city	Busan	Yeonje District	부산광역시	釜山廣域市	3,349,016	770.04	4,309.46
KR-27		Daegu metropolitan city	Daegu	Jung District, Buk District	대구광역시	大邱廣域市	2,410,700	883.49	2,675.25
KR-28		Incheon metropolitan city	Incheon	Namdong District	인천광역시	仁川廣域市	2,945,454	1,062.63	2,782.40
KR-29		Gwangju metropolitan city	Gwangju	Seo District	광주광역시	光州廣域市	1,477,573	501.24	2,855.02
KR-30		Daejeon metropolitan city	Daejeon	Seo District	대전광역시	大田廣域市	1,488,435	539.85	2,681.14
KR-31		Ulsan metropolitan city	Ulsan	Nam District	울산광역시	蔚山廣域市	1,135,423	1,057.14	1,047.01
KR-50		Sejong special self-governing city	Sejong Special Self-Governing City		세종특별자치시	世宗特別自治市	346,275	465.23	824.93
KR-41		Gyeonggi-do	Gyeonggi Province	Suwon, Uijeongbu	경기도	京畿道	13,511,676	10,184	1,336.10
KR-42		Gangwon special self-governing province	Gangwon State	Chuncheon	강원특별자치도	江原特別自治道	1,521,763	16,875	91.06
KR-43		Chungcheongbuk-do	North Chungcheong Province	Cheongju	충청북도	忠淸北道	1,632,088	7,433	215.34
KR-44		Chungcheongnam-do	South Chungcheong Province	Hongseong County	충청남도	忠淸南道	2,176,636	8,204	258.08
KR-45		Jeonbuk special self-governing province	Jeonbuk State	Jeonju	전북특별자치도	全北特別自治道	1,802,766	8,067	219.31
KR-46		Jeollanam-do	South Jeolla Province	Muan County	전라남도	全羅南道	1,788,807	12,247	147.36
KR-47		Gyeongsangbuk-do	North Gyeongsang Province	Andong	경상북도	慶尙北道	2,644,757	19,030	136.64
KR-48		Gyeongsangnam-do	South Gyeongsang Province	Changwon	경상남도	慶尙南道	3,333,056	10,533	311.26
KR-49		Jeju special self-governing province	Jeju Special Self-Governing Province	Jeju City	제주특별자치도	濟州特別自治道	670,858	1,849	366.74

Municipal-level divisions

''Si'' (city)

A si is one of the divisions of a province, along with gun. A city must have a neighborhood and can have towns, townships if the city is combined with urban and rural areas. Once an eup of a county attains a population of 50,000, the county can become a city. A city with a population of over 500,000 is considered as a specific city, which can set non-autonomous districts. City with a population of over 1,000,000, it can be promoted to a metropolitan city if the need is recognized., Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon Ulsan) An administrative city does not have a city council and the mayor of the city is appointed by the provincial governor.

''Gun'' (county)

A gun is one of the divisions of a province, and of the metropolitan cities of Busan, Daegu, Incheon and Ulsan. A gun has a population of less than 150,000, is less densely populated than a gu, and is more rural in character than either of the other 2 divisions. Gun are comparable to British non-metropolitan districts. Counties are divided into towns and townships. Specially, the size of a "gun" is less than a US "county".

''Gu'' (district)

A gu is equivalent to district in the West. The metropolitan cities of Busan, Daegu, Incheon and Ulsan contain gun as well. Gu are similar to boroughs in some Western countries, and a gu office handles many of the functions that would be handled by the city in other jurisdictions. Gu are divided into neighborhoods.

Submunicipal level divisions

''Eup'' (town)

An eup is similar to the unit of town. Along with myeon, an eup is one of the divisions of a county, and of some cities with a population of less than 500,000. The main town or towns in a county—or the secondary town or towns within a city's territory—are designated as eup. Towns are subdivided into villages. In order to form an eup, the minimum population required is 20,000.

''Myeon'' (township)

A myeon is one of the divisions – along with eup – of a county and some cities of fewer than 500,000 population. Myeons have smaller populations than eups and represent the rural areas of a county or city. Myeons are subdivided into villages. The minimum population limit is 6,000.

''Dong'' (neighborhood)

A dong is the primary division of districts, and of those cities which are not divided into districts. The dong is the smallest level of urban government to have its own office and staff. In some cases, a single legal dong is divided into several administrative dong. Administrative dong are usually distinguished from one another by number. In such cases, each administrative dong has its own office and staff.
The primary division of a dong is the tong, but divisions at this level and below are seldom used in daily life. Some populous dong are subdivided into ga, which are not a separate level of government, but only exist for use in addresses. Many major thoroughfares in Seoul, Suwon, and other cities are also subdivided into ga.

''Ri'' (village)

A ri is the only division of towns and townships. The ri is the smallest level of rural government to contain any significant number of people.

History

Although the details of local administration have changed over time, the basic outline of the current three-tiered system was implemented under the reign of Gojong in 1895. A similar system also remains in use in North Korea.