A unanimous decision by 159 nations was reached at the General Assembly in 1991 to admit both South and North Korea simultaneously to the United Nations as full members. South Korea had to undergo a long and hard process to join the U.N. because of interference from North Korea and its Communist allies. However, the fall of Communism in the late 1980s improved South Korea's ties with its former enemy states in Eastern Europe and the normalization of diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union removed a big obstacles on South Korea's way to full U.N. membership. Now an active member of the U.N., South Korea is taking active part in peacekeeping activities and helping out other countries around the world. South Korea sure has come a long way from an aid recipient to a donor nation.