Editing List of cities in South Korea (section)

== Classifications for large municipal cities ==
The national government can designate cities of at least 500,000 inhabitants as special status cities. This status expands the scope of administrative authority delegated from the provincial government to the city government.<ref name="Article198">Article 198, Local Autonomy Act (2021). Article 175 of the 2018 version of the law has similar provisions but is less detailed.</ref> {{citation needed span|text=There is no legal standard for becoming a [[Special cities of South Korea|metropolitan city]], but it was usually promoted to a metropolitan city when the population was close to 1,000,000. However,there are four cities in [[Suwon]], [[Changwon]], [[Goyang]], and [[Yongin]] that have a population of more than 1 million but have not become metropolitan cities, there is no further promotion.|date=February 2022}}

===Big city===
A '''big city''' is a city (other than a special city or a metropolitan city) that has a population greater than 500,000, and has been designated by an order of the national government under Article 198 of the Local Autonomy Act. Big municipal cities are given the power to subdivide themselves into [[List of districts in South Korea|non-autonomous districts]] ({{Korean|hangul=일반구|hanja=一般區}}).<ref name="Article198"/> {{citation needed span|text=However, some big municipal cities have chosen not to divide themselves into districts, such as [[Bucheon]], [[Gimhae]], [[Hwaseong, Gyeonggi|Hwaseong]], or [[Namyangju]]. Currently, South Korea has a total of 17 big cities. "Specific city" ({{Korean|hangul=특정시|hanja=特定市|labels=no}}) is an unofficial term for big city with municipal status.|date=February 2022}}

Due its legal status as an administrative city, [[Jeju City]] cannot be designated as a "big city" under the Local Autonomy Law, despite having an estimated population exceeding 500,000 as of 2022. The designation of "administrative city" was created by the law which granted special self-governing status to [[Jeju Province]]; that law specifically states that the Local Autonomy Act would not apply to administrative cities. As such, [[Jeju City]] does not enjoy special autonomy and only has the same legal powers as the much smaller [[Seogwipo]]. The administrative authority of [[Jeju City]] is trying to expand the scope of administrative authority delegated from the provincial government to the city government.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jejusori.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=336795 |script-title=ko:제주시 1월부터 법률상 자격없는 인구 50만 대도시 |newspaper=Jeju Sori |date=23 December 2021 |access-date=7 February 2022}} See also {{cite act |url=https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?hseq=55937&lang=ENG |title=Special Act on the Establishment of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Development of Free International City |type=As Amended by Law |index=17883 |date=5 January 2021}}</ref>

===Special-status city===

A '''special-status city''' is a subclass of big municipal city that has a population greater than 1,500,000.