diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/v1beta1/defaults_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
index b7ab172929e..1fe5e42e498 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
@@ -752,6 +752,7 @@ func TestSetDefaultsKubeletConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
 				MemoryThrottlingFactor:        utilpointer.Float64Ptr(DefaultMemoryThrottlingFactor),
 				RegisterNode:                  utilpointer.Bool(true),
 				LocalStorageCapacityIsolation: utilpointer.Bool(true),
+				PodLogsDir:                    DefaultPodLogsDir,
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -843,6 +844,7 @@ func TestSetDefaultsKubeletConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
 				MemoryThrottlingFactor:        utilpointer.Float64Ptr(DefaultMemoryThrottlingFactor),
 				RegisterNode:                  utilpointer.Bool(true),
 				LocalStorageCapacityIsolation: utilpointer.Bool(true),
+				PodLogsDir:                    DefaultPodLogsDir,
 			},
 		},
 		{
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation.go b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation.go
index 75874973ded..0abb20ec6e6 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"time"
+	"unicode"
 
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
@@ -300,5 +301,13 @@ func ValidateKubeletConfiguration(kc *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration, featur
 		allErrors = append(allErrors, fmt.Errorf("invalid configuration: pod logs path %q must be normalized", kc.PodLogsDir))
 	}
 
+	// Since pod logs path is used in metrics, make sure it contains only ASCII characters.
+	for _, c := range kc.PodLogsDir {
+		if c > unicode.MaxASCII {
+			allErrors = append(allErrors, fmt.Errorf("invalid configuration: pod logs path %q mut contains ASCII characters only", kc.PodLogsDir))
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
 	return utilerrors.NewAggregate(allErrors)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation_test.go
index b6fedeab77e..8605fbb49d8 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/apis/config/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -569,13 +569,6 @@ func TestValidateKubeletConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
 			return conf
 		},
 		errMsg: "invalid configuration: containerLogMonitorInterval must be a positive time duration greater than or equal to 3s",
-	}, {
-		name: "invalid podLogsPath",
-		configure: func(conf *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration) *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration {
-			conf.PodLogsDir = ""
-			return conf
-		},
-		errMsg: "invalid configuration: podLogsPath was not specified",
 	}, {
 		name: "pod logs path must be absolute",
 		configure: func(config *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration) *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration {
@@ -590,7 +583,15 @@ func TestValidateKubeletConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
 			return config
 		},
 		errMsg: `invalid configuration: pod logs path "/path/../" must be normalized`,
-	}}
+	}, {
+		name: "pod logs path is ascii only",
+		configure: func(config *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration) *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration {
+			config.PodLogsDir = "/🧪"
+			return config
+		},
+		errMsg: `invalid configuration: pod logs path "/🧪" mut contains ASCII characters only`,
+	},
+	}
 
 	for _, tc := range cases {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/stats/cadvisor_stats_provider_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/stats/cadvisor_stats_provider_test.go
index b3bf1af0e5b..a97a6dcc160 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/stats/cadvisor_stats_provider_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/stats/cadvisor_stats_provider_test.go
@@ -703,12 +703,11 @@ func TestCadvisorListPodStatsWhenContainerLogFound(t *testing.T) {
 		"/pod0-c1": getTestContainerInfo(seedPod0Container1, pName0, namespace0, cName01),
 	}
 
-	podLogsDirectory := "/var/log/pods"
 	containerLogStats0 := makeFakeLogStats(0)
 	containerLogStats1 := makeFakeLogStats(0)
 	fakeStats := map[string]*volume.Metrics{
-		kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory(podLogsDirectory, prf0.Namespace, prf0.Name, types.UID(prf0.UID), cName00): containerLogStats0,
-		kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory(podLogsDirectory, prf0.Namespace, prf0.Name, types.UID(prf0.UID), cName01): containerLogStats1,
+		kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory(testPodLogDirectory, prf0.Namespace, prf0.Name, types.UID(prf0.UID), cName00): containerLogStats0,
+		kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory(testPodLogDirectory, prf0.Namespace, prf0.Name, types.UID(prf0.UID), cName01): containerLogStats1,
 	}
 	fakeStatsSlice := []*volume.Metrics{containerLogStats0, containerLogStats1}
 	fakeOS := &containertest.FakeOS{}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/stats/cri_stats_provider_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/stats/cri_stats_provider_test.go
index 431a453d9d0..6dc8c6aee6f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/stats/cri_stats_provider_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/stats/cri_stats_provider_test.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ const (
 	cName9 = "container9-name"
 )
 
-const testPodLogDirectory = "/var/log/pods/"
+const testPodLogDirectory = "/var/log/kube/pods/" // Use non-default path to ensure stats are collected properly
 
 func TestCRIListPodStats(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/stats/host_stats_provider_fake.go b/pkg/kubelet/stats/host_stats_provider_fake.go
index a5d6eef0d91..66cdfec2f47 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/stats/host_stats_provider_fake.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/stats/host_stats_provider_fake.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ func NewFakeHostStatsProviderWithData(fakeStats map[string]*volume.Metrics, osIn
 }
 
 func (f *fakeHostStatsProvider) getPodLogStats(podNamespace, podName string, podUID types.UID, rootFsInfo *cadvisorapiv2.FsInfo) (*statsapi.FsStats, error) {
-	path := kuberuntime.BuildPodLogsDirectory("/var/log/pods", podNamespace, podName, podUID)
+	path := kuberuntime.BuildPodLogsDirectory("/var/log/kube/pods/", podNamespace, podName, podUID)
 	files, err := f.osInterface.ReadDir(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ func (f *fakeHostStatsProvider) getPodLogStats(podNamespace, podName string, pod
 }
 
 func (f *fakeHostStatsProvider) getPodContainerLogStats(podNamespace, podName string, podUID types.UID, containerName string, rootFsInfo *cadvisorapiv2.FsInfo) (*statsapi.FsStats, error) {
-	path := kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory("/var/log/pods", podNamespace, podName, podUID, containerName)
+	path := kuberuntime.BuildContainerLogsDirectory("/var/log/kube/pods/", podNamespace, podName, podUID, containerName)
 	metricsProvider := NewFakeMetricsDu(path, f.fakeStats[path])
 	return fakeMetricsProvidersToStats([]volume.MetricsProvider{metricsProvider}, rootFsInfo)
 }