Japan ship firm pays about $40 million to China after seizure - media

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd has paid about 4 billion yen ($39 million / 23.2 million pounds) in settlement to China as compensation stemming from a wartime contractual obligation, following a seizure of its ship by a Chinese maritime court in Shanghai, Japanese media said on Thursday. What the company paid for was 2.9 billion yen in compensation plus interests, the Yomiuri newspaper and public broadcaster NHK said. Mitsui O.S.K. spokesman Atsushi Seki said he could not immediately confirm the report, saying it was still working to lift the seizure. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Dominic Lau)