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 administrative scheme, and are among the highest-ranked administrative divisions of South Korea. There are three kinds of first-level city in South Korea. Seoul was designated a "special free city" (teukbyeol jayusi; ; ) separate from Gyeonggi Province on August 15, 1946; it became a "special city" on August 15, 1949. Metropolitan cities were called "direct control (meaning directly-administered) city" (jikhalsi; ; ) before 1995. Administration In South Korean special city and metropolitan cities, the Mayor is the highest-ranking official in charge. The Mayor is directly elected by the people registered in the city for a duration of four years. e.g. Mayor of Seoul. Metropolitan functions such as water supply and public transport are integrated into the sole prefecture other than scattered to each municipality. List of metropolitan cities Notes: There are no Hanja for "Seoul"; in Chinese, it is written as / (), a transcription based on the pronunciation of "Seoul". As a suffix, the character Gyeong (/) is used, which means "capital". Specific cities that meet the minimum requirements for Metropolitan city status but have not yet been nominated Suwon (수원시 / ) - Population: 1,194,465; Area: 121.04 km2; Density: 9,868.34 /km2 Changwon (창원시 / ) - Population: 1,054,154; Area: 747.12 km2; Density: 1,410.95 /km2 Yongin (용인시 / ) - Population: 1,048,832; Area: 591.32 km2; Density: 1,773.71 /km2 Goyang (고양시 / ) - Population: 1,043,035; Area: 267.41 km2; Density: 3,900.50 /km2 Specific cities with more than 900,000 Seongnam (성남시 / ) - Population: 942,649; Area: 141.72 km2; Density: 6,651.48 /km2 See also Administrative divisions of South Korea Cities of South Korea List of cities in South Korea Provinces of South Korea Special cities of North Korea References Special