The
Districts (Gu) of Seoul are the twenty-five
gu ("districts"; 구; ) comprising
Seoul,
South Korea. The
gu vary greatly in area (from 10 to 47 km²) and population (from less than 140,000 to 630,000).
Songpa is the most populated, while
Seocho has the largest area. Gu are similar to
London's or
New York's
boroughs or
Tokyo's
23 special wards, and a gu's government handles many of the functions that are handled by city governments in other jurisdictions. This city-like standing is underscored by the fact that each gu has its own
legislative council,
mayor and
sister cities. Each
gu is further divided into
dong or neighborhoods. Some
gu have only a few
dong while others (like
Jongno-gu) have a very large number of distinct neighborhoods.