ATC watcher. Uplinker only made an observation & speculated what the EVA crew thought ATC had said. Yes I expect they suddenly got situational awareness if their EGPWS suddenly responded to the approaching terrain.
As for poor ATC well the USA is pretty lax but not any way the worst. One controller in another part of the world tx: Xxx for your information I have lots of the aeroplanes coming & going all over the place!