Taiwan's Cabinet entered a new phase of instability Friday with the resignation of Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng over her refusal to implement death sentences.

Wang's resignation late Thursday was approved by Premier Wu Den-yih on Friday morning.

"If you want me to kill, I can't do it," she told reporters Friday.

Wang's departure follows the resignation earlier in the week of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang who was disgusted at the Cabinet's refusal to extend national insurance premium hikes to a wider number of people.

Yaung's resignation is yet to be approved.

Wu named Deputy Minister Huang Shih-ming, the government's nominee for prosecutor general, as Wang's acting replacement. Huang triggered the crisis on Monday when he said existing death row prisoners should be executed before any change is made to the law.

That comment prompted Wang to argue the death penalty should be abolished and she would block all executions.

A media storm followed, including personal attacks on her by Nationalist Party legislators, as well as families of murder victims in press conferences called by the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei said that with Wang's resignation, "A demon has finally gone to hell," a reference to Wang's comment that she would rather resign and "go to hell" in place of condemned prisoners than send them to their deaths.

Wang's departure could open the door to imminent execution of dozens of the 44 prisoners on death row.

In a statement, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty "deeply regretted" Wang's resignation, urging the president, the premier and the legislature not to let elections and snap opinion polls affect debate on capital punishment.

It urged the next minister to work toward abolition and not to "assume office as an executioner."

Lin Hsin-yi, the alliance's executive director, told Kyodo News, "The acting minister should not take advantage of his temporary authority to change the status quo. Besides, there remain several legal options for capital cases," despite the push for quick executions among legislators and ministry staffers.

Wang, who Thursday said Taiwan would be the "laughingstock" of the international community if a justice minister resigned for opposing executions, seemingly lost the support of Wu and President Ma Ying- jeou in successive press statements.

Wu said Thursday that prisoners who exhausted the legal process and had no other extraordinary circumstances should be executed.

Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang said the law should be followed to the letter and any delay in executions should have a legal basis.

Neither statement expressed confidence in the minister, and both were likely referring to accusations Wang was imposing personal values on her role, such as her emotional references to sacrifice, damnation and having "blood on my hands" if she approved executions.

Wang justified her actions in terms of the "right to life" in Taiwan's Constitution and the inconsistency of verdicts.

Her demise was astonishingly rapid, given she was a staunch defender of the government and the legal system as it came under fire from opposition politicians, legal reform advocates and foreign legal experts, particularly over the trial of former President Chen Shui- bian and the rights of defendants.

But Wang was also a firm and conspicuous supporter of abolition of the death penalty and had been at the forefront of a reform drive to amend the law. Amid government concerns over year-end municipal elections and the ferocious response to Wang's stance on the death penalty, the status of that drive and the moratorium is now uncertain, notwithstanding Ma's support for reducing the number of executions.

The two Cabinet resignations could have wider implications.

In an editorial Friday, the pro-government China Times lamented that Yaung's resignation was symptomatic of the government's struggle to enact reform on even basic policy issues and that Cabinet morale was in the balance.

The Cabinet has been burdened by frequent changes of ministers in key portfolios in the two years since Ma came to power.

Wang was one of the government's most loyal ministers, and her departure over questions of law and personal conviction could further hamper the Cabinet as it tries to sell a contentious free-trade deal with China to the public.

Capital punishment continues to enjoy widespread public support in Taiwan, though no prisoner has been executed since 2005 because of the refusal of successive justice ministers to proceed with the sentence.