https://evolutionkr.kr/ Evolution Korea The economic crisis which swept Asia led to a major rethinking of the traditional system of government, business alliances, and public management of risks. In Korea this meant an evolution of the development model. In a controversial move, South Korea's government has asked textbook publishers to ignore requests to remove examples of evolution from science textbooks for high school students. These include the evidence of the evolution of horses and the bird an ancestor Archaeopteryx. 1. Evolution and Religion A South Korean creationist group has persuaded textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution from high school science texts. The decision was the result of a campaign led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR) which is an offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research which aims to get rid of biology textbooks of "atheist materialism." The STR claims that such materialism paints an unhopeful picture for students, and could lead to their eventual denial of faith. When the STR's ad campaign made the news, scientists across the globe expressed alarm. Jae Choe, evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul wrote in an email to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was backed up by colleagues from across the country, who set up a group called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the changes to the textbooks. Researchers are also worried about the possibility that the STR campaign will spread to other parts of the globe where the spread of creationism is increasing. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolutionist campaign putting pressure on textbook revisions, particularly in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations. South Korea has a particularly powerful cultural backdrop for the debate on evolution. Twenty-six percent of the country's citizens belong to one of the religious groups, and most adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. In addit