javadoc treats everything inside an @code block as literal text so @link tags are not processed. The end result is seeing the @link text in the rendered java doc as seen here:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/24/docs/api/jdk.jdi/com/sun/jdi/request/EventRequestManager.html#createStepRequest(com.sun.jdi.ThreadReference,int,int)

The @link related text should be removed.