A Korean man’s round-the-world journey appears to have come to a heartbreaking end in Manchester - after his scooter was stolen.

Over the past fourteen months, Yung Gu Ro has visited thirty-seven countries and clocked up more than 64,000km on his Honda PCX125.

He told the M.E.N. it has always been his “dream” to travel the globe and he was especially excited to visit England.

But his once-in-a-lifetime trip has come to an abrupt stop following the theft of his scooter and many of his precious belongings in the Northern Quarter on Friday.

Yung, 43, said he went to check-out of his hotel at 11am and it was gone from the spot where he left it on Thomas Street.

Fortunately, he still has some of his valuables such as his camera, passport and the iPad that is helping him communicate.

(Image: Ashley Stocks)

But Yung, who comes from the South Korean city of Busan, has lost some important documents to help him get back into Korea, winter clothes and most importantly, his means of transport.

Now a group of bikers who met Yung earlier this week have rallied round to get him back on the road.

Lee Hindle, a service manager at Raceways motorbike shop in Fleetwood, Lancashire, travelled down to Manchester on Saturday afternoon to help out.

UPDATE: Great news on the fundraising effort to get Yung back on the road - more details in our new story here.

“When we heard what happened it just pulled at the heartstrings,” he said.

(Image: Lee Hindle) (Image: Lee Hindle)

“Yung came to us on Thursday to get an oil change after he looked us up on Google and he was just the nicest guy.

“He told us his story - I couldn’t believe it when I saw 64,000 on his clock!

“So we gave him some free muffs to keep his hands warm, and a free tyre.

“He wanted to stay and help us clean!

“Then the next day he rings and tells us he’s had his bike nicked.

“He didn’t know what to do - he rang the Korean police at first.

“We told him to ring Manchester police and we just want to help.”

The biking community have set up a Gofundme page to raise money to replace Yung’s scooter which has already raised more than £400.

And in the meantime, Lee and his pals are going to take Yung for dinner and watch a tractor-pulling show in Blackpool.

“We just want him to know that not all people in Britain are bad!” said Lee.

Although he has little English, Yung was able to tell the M.E.N how he hopes the setback won’t end his journey and how he came to England because of the music he enjoyed as a child.

He said he went to Liverpool because he loves The Beatles and to Scarborough because of the Simon and Garfunkel song ‘Scarborough Fair’.

Yung said he knew Manchester because of the former Manchester United player Park Ji-Sung.

“He is a superstar!” he said excitedly.

Yung, who is travelling alone, has been chronicling his adventures in a blog called ‘Around World with Scooter’ and on his Instagram account.

On Friday, he posted a picture of his scooter with the caption: “My trip seems to have ended in Manchester. Someone stole my bike.”

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Yung.