Korean companies are taking a long lead over their Japanese rivals in the global LCD TV market. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics achieved a combined 33.4 percent share of the world market in the third quarter, against a combined 17.4 percent for Sony and Sharp, according to market researcher DisplaySearch on Tuesday. Korea boosted its market share by 2.8 percentage points from the previous quarter while Japan remained at a standstill.

Samsung sold 6.9 million LCD TVs in the July to September period, achieving a 21.1 percent market share and breaking its previous record of 20.5 percent in the second quarter of last year. Its sales for the first nine months of the year totaled 17.6 million units, over one million units more than the combined sales of Sony and Sharp, which sold 9.8 million units and 6.71 million units respectively in the same period.

LG Electronics, which overtook Sony as the world's second largest TV maker in the second quarter, sold 4.01 million LCD TVs in the third quarter with its record market share of 12.3 percent.