Korea's Ministry of National Defense will publish a summary of its biennial defense white paper in six foreign languages starting this year in an effort to help foreign countries have a better understanding of Seoul's defense policies, officials said Sunday.

The summary of the 2016 Defense White Paper due out at the end of this year will be published in six foreign languages -- English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic -- said the officials, adding the abridged foreign-language edition will have 30 pages each.

The summary will be distributed to foreign embassies in Seoul as well as universities and research institutes abroad, they noted.

"The defense white paper summary will contain some of the globally recognized defense-related issues like South Korean military involvement in the United Nations' peacekeeping operations, the security conditions of the Korean Peninsula and evaluations of North Korean military forces," a ministry official said.

The full-length English version of the white paper will be rolled out between February and March of 2017, he said. (Yonhap)