The Joint Chiefs of Staff then said that the deployed troops had returned to their original units. In the aftermath, Yoon's cabinet approved the reversal.But the reversal of the order wasn't enough to stymie economic anxieties that arose out of the unrest.

During South Korea's decades under autocratic governments and military rule, martial law was a common response to political instability.

President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the East Asian democracy by declaring martial law only to lift the order hours later under intense pressure.