'Largest ever' gold SURGE if North Korea and US NUCLEAR WAR breaks out, economist reveals

The chance of war between the two countries continued to rise throughout most of 2017 as Kim Jong-un's hermit state tested ballistic missiles, breaking rules set out by the United Nations.

The dictator was locked in a war of words with the US President as both threatened to launch nuclear bomb against the other.

Now, Mr. Rickards has suggested that if a war was to break out between the two countries, the price of gold could be pushed up to $10,000 (£7,106.30)

He said: "I don't sit around waiting for a war to start because I hope gold's going to go up, but we probably are going to have a war with North Korea."

The economist added that continued tensions between the two countries and uncertainty about what will happen next was also leading to an increase in the price of precious metal.

He continued: "Any kind of uncertainty or fear factor is going to drive gold higher."

Mr Rickards highlighted that if there is a liquidity crisis or a financial panic bankers will try to restore confidence in the international monetary system by buying gold, leading to a rise in its price due to the increased demand.

However, a war with North Korea is not the only event that could happen in 2018 which is causing Mr Rickards to consider whether there will be a boom in the gold price.

Explaining other potential factors he said: "We probably are going to have a trade war with in addition to a currency war with China.

"If the Democrats take the House of Representatives we're going to go right to impeachment proceedings."

Both of these outcomes could also help to see the price of gold dramatically increase according to the trader.

He went on to highlight that this is the third major gold bull market – a steady increase in price – in his lifetime.

He said: "The first one was 1971 to 1980, where gold went up over 2,000 per cent.

"The second one was 1999 to 2011 when gold went up 665 per cent.

"We're in a new Bull market that started in December 2015.

"Gold was up 25 per cent since then, gold was up in 2016 and 2017, the first back-to-back year of gold gains since 2011-2012.

"So 2018 will be a break out year."

Gold's reached its highest value in more than a year last when it was priced at $1,370 per ounce.