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

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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

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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". 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