The hypothesis that the Manchurian-Korean refugium of forest flora and fauna played a role in the formation of the European biota in the postglacial period is confirmed by: geographical vicarance in the Palaearctic region, the distribution of fossil species, the similarity of the present-day climate to that in the Tertiary, the disappearance of the sea barrier between Europe and Asia in the Quaternary, ecological corridors serving as migration pathways between Europe and the Far East. The data point to the importance of studies of the biota of Poland and Korea for the explanation of the genesis and evolution of the living world.