[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]LG Electronics (LG) announced today that it will begin accepting pre-orders for its eagerly-awaited 55-inch class (54.6-inch diagonal) WRGB OLED TV (Model 55EM9700) in South Korea this month with deliveries scheduled to begin next month.

Other markets where the revolutionary LG OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV will be available will be announced over the next several weeks along with their respective prices. The announcement comes just days before the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where an early version of the TV last year was awarded “Best of Show.”

More than 1,400 LG retail stores in South Korea will begin accepting orders from consumers for KRW 11 million (approximately US $10,000) TVs starting Jan. 3 with delivery to commence the first week of February. As the first and only company to announce availability of the next-generation TV technology, LG is prepared to ramp up quickly to take the lead in the OLED segment that is expected to grow to 7.2 million units by 2016, according to DisplaySearch.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to make this announcement at the start of the new year because we believe that OLED will usher in a whole new era of home entertainment,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG’s Home Entertainment Company. “Not since color TV was first introduced 60 years ago has there been a more transformational moment. When high definition TV was first introduced 15 years ago, the public’s reaction was ‘wow!’ but when customers see our razor-thin OLED TV for the first time, they’re left speechless. That’s a clear indicator as any that OLED TV is much more than just an incremental improvement to current television technology.”