diff --git a/gpgme/ChangeLog b/gpgme/ChangeLog
index 8dc46cbd..a23e9d17 100644
--- a/gpgme/ChangeLog
+++ b/gpgme/ChangeLog
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 	(gpgme_key_get_string_attr): Add GPGME_ATTR_SIG_SUMMARY case to
 	silence gcc warning.
 
+	* rungpg.c (_gpgme_gpg_new): Always set utf8 as charset.
+
 2002-07-03  Marcus Brinkmann  <marcus@g10code.de>
 
 	* gpgme.c (gpgme_set_io_cbs): Deal with CTX being NULL.
diff --git a/gpgme/rungpg.c b/gpgme/rungpg.c
index 15115e56..358a7d4b 100644
--- a/gpgme/rungpg.c
+++ b/gpgme/rungpg.c
@@ -292,6 +292,8 @@ _gpgme_gpg_new (GpgObject *r_gpg)
     _gpgme_gpg_add_arg (gpg, buf);
   }
   _gpgme_gpg_add_arg (gpg, "--no-tty");
+  _gpgme_gpg_add_arg (gpg, "--charset");
+  _gpgme_gpg_add_arg (gpg, "utf8");
 
  leave:
   if (rc)