diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
index 5b51999e3b..b99a7e4b8e 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
@@ -287,7 +287,6 @@ func (ds *dockerService) StopContainer(containerID string, timeout int64) error
 }
 
 // RemoveContainer removes the container.
-// TODO: If a container is still running, should we forcibly remove it?
 func (ds *dockerService) RemoveContainer(containerID string) error {
 	// Ideally, log lifecycle should be independent of container lifecycle.
 	// However, docker will remove container log after container is removed,
@@ -296,7 +295,7 @@ func (ds *dockerService) RemoveContainer(containerID string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	err = ds.client.RemoveContainer(containerID, dockertypes.ContainerRemoveOptions{RemoveVolumes: true})
+	err = ds.client.RemoveContainer(containerID, dockertypes.ContainerRemoveOptions{RemoveVolumes: true, Force: true})
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to remove container %q: %v", containerID, err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_sandbox.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_sandbox.go
index b9cf1226b3..1f5bf31379 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_sandbox.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_sandbox.go
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (ds *dockerService) RemovePodSandbox(podSandboxID string) error {
 	}
 
 	// Remove the sandbox container.
-	if err := ds.client.RemoveContainer(podSandboxID, dockertypes.ContainerRemoveOptions{RemoveVolumes: true}); err != nil && !libdocker.IsContainerNotFoundError(err) {
+	if err := ds.client.RemoveContainer(podSandboxID, dockertypes.ContainerRemoveOptions{RemoveVolumes: true, Force: true}); err != nil && !libdocker.IsContainerNotFoundError(err) {
 		errs = append(errs, err)
 	}