diff --git a/build/lib/release.sh b/build/lib/release.sh
index f8d3a5e0dce..5c2fc49579e 100644
--- a/build/lib/release.sh
+++ b/build/lib/release.sh
@@ -309,7 +309,10 @@ function kube::release::create_docker_images_for_server() {
     local images_dir="${RELEASE_IMAGES}/${arch}"
     mkdir -p "${images_dir}"
 
-    local -r docker_registry="${KUBE_DOCKER_REGISTRY}"
+    # k8s.gcr.io is the constant tag in the docker archives, this is also the default for config scripts in GKE.
+    # We can use KUBE_DOCKER_REGISTRY to include and extra registry in the docker archive.
+    # If we use KUBE_DOCKER_REGISTRY="k8s.gcr.io", then the extra tag (same) is ignored, see release_docker_image_tag below.
+    local -r docker_registry="k8s.gcr.io"
     # Docker tags cannot contain '+'
     local docker_tag="${KUBE_GIT_VERSION/+/_}"
     if [[ -z "${docker_tag}" ]]; then