Master Lee Joon-seok, 69, and three otherspleaded not guilty to homicide in a court in Gwangju on Tuesday.
Another 11 crew face charges of abandonmentand violating a ship safety act.
Four have yet to plead.
Prosecutors allege the men left the ship asit was sinking, while telling passengers, mostly high school students, to staywhere they were inside the cabins.
More than 300 people died in the tragedy.
The
