US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he welcomed Yoon’s decision to rescind the martial law declaration.
“We continue to expect political disagreements to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law,” Blinken said in a statement.
South Korea hosts around 28,500 American troops as a legacy of the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.
Planned defence talks and joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States were postponed, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Sweden’s prime minister also postponed a visit to South Korea, a spokesperson said.
Yoon, a career prosecutor, squeezed out a victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022, riding a wave of discontent over economic policy, scandals and gender wars.
But he has been unpopular, with his support ratings hovering at around 20 per cent for months.
His People Power Party suffered a landslide defeat at a parliamentary election in April this year, ceding control of the unicameral assembly to opposition parties that captured nearly two-thirds of the seats.
There have been more than a dozen instances of martial law being declared since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948.
In 1980, a group of military officers led by Chun Doo-hwan forced then-President Choi Kyu-hah to proclaim martial law to crush calls by the opposition, labour and students for the restoration of democratic government.
Source: CNA
