diff --git a/scripts/west_commands/runners/core.py b/scripts/west_commands/runners/core.py
index db5408c8f5164..69491f1990df0 100644
--- a/scripts/west_commands/runners/core.py
+++ b/scripts/west_commands/runners/core.py
@@ -923,7 +923,8 @@ def run_telnet_client(self, host: str, port: int) -> None:
         # CONFIG_SHELL_VT100_COMMANDS etc.
         if shutil.which('nc') is not None:
             client_cmd = ['nc', host, str(port)]
-            self.run_client(client_cmd)
+            # Note: netcat (nc) does not handle sigint, so cannot use run_client()
+            self.check_call(client_cmd)
             return
 
         # Otherwise, use a pure python implementation. This will work well for logging,