No cities meet the exact criteria for “Smallest Cities in South Korea by Area.”
Note the label “city” in South Korea refers to a specific administrative unit (si). Understand that most si cover wide administrative land that includes suburbs and rural zones. Expect few — if any — si that qualify as extremely small by area. This makes a strict “smallest cities by area” list come up empty under tight filters.
Consider why this happens. South Korea’s local system splits places into provinces, si (cities), gun (counties), gu (districts), and dong (neighborhoods). Districts and neighborhoods are the compact parts of big cities. Cities themselves are created or merged with population and service-area rules, so they usually include more land. Historical mergers and city expansions also reduce the number of tiny standalone si.
Look at close alternatives. Small, dense urban areas exist as districts (gu) such as Jongno‑gu or Jung‑gu in Seoul and similar central wards in Busan and Daegu. County-level islands and towns often look small on a map but are usually classed as gun or eup/myeon, not si. Explore lists of the smallest gu (districts) by area, the smallest cities by population, or a sortable table of municipal areas from KOSIS and city websites instead.
