Special city
Category	Unitary state
Location	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Number	4 Special Cities
Populations	205,000 (Rason) – 3,255,388 (Pyongyang)
Areas	710 square miles (1,800 km2) (Rason) – 400 square miles (1,000 km2) (Pyongyang)
Government	Single-Party Government
Subdivisions	District, County

Special cities are one of the first-level administrative divisions within North Korea. There are four special cities in North Korea.

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.

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".^{[further explanation needed]} 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.

• Administrative divisions of North Korea
• List of cities in North Korea
• Special cities of South Korea
• Independent city
  • Direct-administered municipality (Mainland China)
  • Special municipality (Taiwan)
  • Municipalities of Vietnam
• Federal city
  • Federal cities of Russia — similar systems

• 행정구역 현황 [Haengjeong Guyeok Hyeonhwang]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 2004. Archived from the original on 9 January 2006.
• 행정구역 개편 일지 [Haengjeong Guyeok Gaepyeon Ilji]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2006.

• Dormels, Rainer. North Korea's Cities: Industrial facilities, internal structures and typification. Jimoondang, 2014. ISBN 978-89-6297-167-5