The Korean War was a three-year conflict that began in 1950 when communist North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea, which was supported by a coalition of UN forces led by the United States. The two countries had only been formally divided at the 38th parallel two years earlier, at the end of World War II. Over three million casualties and decades later, the two Koreas remain technically at war, locked in an endless stalemate. This engaging map traces the events of the Korean War, from the seeds of conflict to the present division. Published in July 2003 as half of a two-map set with "The Two Koreas."