South Korea provinces quiz

The 17 provinces in the quiz

South Korea has 9 provinces, 6 metropolitan cities, Seoul and Sejong: 17 in the quiz. Use the Capitals button in the panel to find their capitals instead.

How to play

In Point mode we name a province and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: its size rank and its neighbors.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest provinces are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Gwangju (about 51 sq mi), Busan (about 110 sq mi), and Daejeon (about 140 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

And watch out for look-alike names: North Chungcheong and South Chungcheong; North Gyeongsang and South Gyeongsang; North Jeolla and South Jeolla.

Tips to learn them

• Start with the three largest: Gangwon, North Gyeongsang, and South Jeolla cover 50% of the area of South Korea.
• The 2 provinces bordering North Korea trace that border on the map: Gangwon and Gyeonggi.
• 6 of the 17 have no coastline: Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, North Chungcheong, Sejong, and Seoul.
• Jeju has no land border with any other province on the map: look for it at sea.
• North Chungcheong has the most neighbors: it borders 7 provinces. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.

Playing in class

If you teach in South Korea, start with your school’s province and its neighbors and add a few each day. Otherwise, it’s a good way to get to know the country before studying it.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 17 provinces

1. Busan Busan
2. Daegu Daegu
3. Daejeon Daejeon
4. Gangwon Chuncheon
5. Gwangju Gwangju
6. Gyeonggi Suwon
7. Incheon Incheon
8. Jeju Jeju
9. North Chungcheong Cheongju
10. North Gyeongsang Andong
11. North Jeolla Jeonju
12. Sejong Sejong
13. Seoul Seoul
14. South Chungcheong Hongseong
15. South Gyeongsang Changwon
16. South Jeolla Muan
17. Ulsan Ulsan