Unfortunately, that statement is a bit misleading, as the decision was made at the DoD. The memo simply outlined the policy. Because Korea is across the international dateline, they are 13 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. As a result, the policy announcement simply came out of Korea first, and similar announcements were made the next “day” in the U.S. The policy was not defined in Korea.

Whether or not this is meaningful to the overall story is up for debate, but an accurate description of the origin of the policy is probably in order.