diff --git a/lib/json/pure/parser.rb b/lib/json/pure/parser.rb
index e1d701b3..be48c607 100644
--- a/lib/json/pure/parser.rb
+++ b/lib/json/pure/parser.rb
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ def parse_string
                 bytes << c[6 * i + 2, 2].to_i(16) << c[6 * i + 4, 2].to_i(16)
                 i += 1
               end
-              JSON.iconv('utf-8', 'utf-16be', bytes)
+              JSON.iconv('utf-8', 'utf-16be', bytes).force_encoding(::Encoding::ASCII_8BIT)
             end
           end
           if string.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
diff --git a/tests/json_encoding_test.rb b/tests/json_encoding_test.rb
index cc7b7155..1a380a4a 100644
--- a/tests/json_encoding_test.rb
+++ b/tests/json_encoding_test.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ class JSONEncodingTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def setup
     @utf_8      = '"© ≠ €!"'
     @ascii_8bit = @utf_8.dup.force_encoding('ascii-8bit')
+    @mixed      = '"© \u2260 €!"'
     @parsed     = "© ≠ €!"
     @generated  = '"\u00a9 \u2260 \u20ac!"'
     if String.method_defined?(:encode)
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ def setup
   def test_parse
     assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@ascii_8bit)
     assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@utf_8)
+    assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@mixed)
     assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@utf_16be)
     assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@utf_16le)
     assert_equal @parsed, JSON.parse(@utf_32be)