The Korean War grew out of tensions between Communist countries and non-Communist countries. The war began when Communist troops from North Korea invaded non-Communist South Korea. At the request of the United States, the United Nations (UN) Security Council voted to send UN troops to help South Korea. Sixteen UN member nations sent men to aid the South Koreans, and Chinese Communist troops helped North Korea. The Soviet Union sent supplies to North Korea.<NP> Peace talks began in July 1951 and went on for two years while bloody fighting continued. At times during the war, the Communist forces occupied much of South Korea. By the end of the fighting, however, UN troops had pushed the Communists back into North Korea. Representatives of the UN and the Communists signed an armistice in July 1953. The Korean War was the first war in which troops of a world organization fought an aggressor nation.
