The Washington Post reports that “the outgoing commander of U.S. military forces on the Korean Peninsula said Tuesday that North Korea’s youthful and enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Un, has successfully consolidated power, even as he has dashed international hopes that he might turn out to be a reformer.

“It’s clear to me that he’s in charge up there,” said Army Gen. James D. Thurman, who is retiring and will leave his post this week as the commander of 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. “We’ve got to keep a close watch on him, every day, and that’s what we try to do.”