diff --git a/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfig.java b/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfig.java
index 6896cf74157..0f158d3252d 100644
--- a/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfig.java
+++ b/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfig.java
@@ -108,8 +108,11 @@ public abstract class MirrorConnectorConfig extends AbstractConfig {
     public static final String OFFSET_SYNCS_TOPIC_LOCATION_DEFAULT = SOURCE_CLUSTER_ALIAS_DEFAULT;
     public static final String OFFSET_SYNCS_TOPIC_LOCATION_DOC = "The location (source/target) of the offset-syncs topic.";
 
+    private final ReplicationPolicy replicationPolicy;
+
     protected MirrorConnectorConfig(ConfigDef configDef, Map<String, String> props) {
         super(configDef, props, true);
+        replicationPolicy = getConfiguredInstance(REPLICATION_POLICY_CLASS, ReplicationPolicy.class);
     }
 
     String connectorName() {
@@ -133,7 +136,7 @@ public abstract class MirrorConnectorConfig extends AbstractConfig {
     }
 
     ReplicationPolicy replicationPolicy() {
-        return getConfiguredInstance(REPLICATION_POLICY_CLASS, ReplicationPolicy.class);
+        return replicationPolicy;
     }
 
     Map<String, Object> sourceProducerConfig() {
diff --git a/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorSourceConfig.java b/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorSourceConfig.java
index 1bc2c8830cd..ff15357c248 100644
--- a/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorSourceConfig.java
+++ b/connect/mirror/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorSourceConfig.java
@@ -171,10 +171,6 @@ public class MirrorSourceConfig extends MirrorConnectorConfig {
         }
     }
 
-    ReplicationPolicy replicationPolicy() {
-        return getConfiguredInstance(REPLICATION_POLICY_CLASS, ReplicationPolicy.class);
-    }
-
     int replicationFactor() {
         return getInt(REPLICATION_FACTOR);
     }
diff --git a/connect/mirror/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfigTest.java b/connect/mirror/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfigTest.java
index dbf255d8bb4..7b5e9ffe292 100644
--- a/connect/mirror/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfigTest.java
+++ b/connect/mirror/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/mirror/MirrorConnectorConfigTest.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import static org.apache.kafka.connect.mirror.TestUtils.makeProps;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertSame;
 
 public class MirrorConnectorConfigTest {
 
@@ -183,4 +184,10 @@ public class MirrorConnectorConfigTest {
         assertEquals(2, config.metricsReporters().size());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testReplicationPolicy() {
+        MirrorConnectorConfig config = new TestMirrorConnectorConfig(makeProps());
+        assertSame(config.replicationPolicy(), config.replicationPolicy());
+    }
+
 }