diff --git a/package/mpg123/mpg123.mk b/package/mpg123/mpg123.mk
index c2d7b1fc3..c9acb6be8 100644
--- a/package/mpg123/mpg123.mk
+++ b/package/mpg123/mpg123.mk
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PORTAUDIO),y)
 MPG123_AUDIO += portaudio
 MPG123_CONF_OPTS += --with-default-audio=portaudio
 MPG123_DEPENDENCIES += portaudio
+# configure script does NOT use pkg-config to figure out how to link
+# with portaudio, breaking static linking as portaudio uses pthreads
+MPG123_CONF_ENV += LIBS='$(shell $(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs portaudio-2.0)'
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_SDL),y)