diff --git a/libcontainer/container_linux.go b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
index 66e5f02f3..de93c6977 100644
--- a/libcontainer/container_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
@@ -393,6 +393,14 @@ func (c *linuxContainer) Signal(s os.Signal, all bool) error {
 		if err := c.initProcess.signal(s); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unable to signal init: %w", err)
 		}
+		if status == Paused {
+			// For cgroup v1, killing a process in a frozen cgroup
+			// does nothing until it's thawed. Only thaw the cgroup
+			// for SIGKILL.
+			if s, ok := s.(unix.Signal); ok && s == unix.SIGKILL {
+				_ = c.cgroupManager.Freeze(configs.Thawed)
+			}
+		}
 		return nil
 	}
 	return ErrNotRunning
diff --git a/tests/integration/delete.bats b/tests/integration/delete.bats
index 9a6d7e184..ea8a3bb6c 100644
--- a/tests/integration/delete.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/delete.bats
@@ -50,6 +50,16 @@ function teardown() {
 	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 }
 
+@test "runc delete --force [paused container]" {
+	runc run -d --console-socket "$CONSOLE_SOCKET" ct1
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+	testcontainer ct1 running
+
+	runc pause ct1
+	runc delete --force ct1
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+}
+
 @test "runc delete --force in cgroupv1 with subcgroups" {
 	requires cgroups_v1 root cgroupns
 	set_cgroups_path