diff --git a/package/python-mbstrdecoder/Config.in b/package/python-mbstrdecoder/Config.in
index 8982814cea..5ba3a19cc4 100644
--- a/package/python-mbstrdecoder/Config.in
+++ b/package/python-mbstrdecoder/Config.in
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_MBSTRDECODER
 	bool "python-mbstrdecoder"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON3
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_PYTHON_CHARDET # runtime
 	help
 	  multi-byte character string decoder.